by Jennifer Uhlarik
Happy June, everybody! This year of 2026 is nearly half over already, and I’m simply shocked! Aren’t you?
Let’s continue with our series on the women who have been featured on the U.S. Postage Stamps. Last month, we left off with stamps issued in 1981. Today, we pick up in the same year with Edna St. Vincent Millay. Millay picked up the pen early in life, writing poetry from childhood until her death. After entering a poem in a contest where one judge prematurely awarded her first prize, then had that award stripped and came in fourth overall, she gained a bit of notoriety. This led to a supporter offering to send her to Vassar College in 1917. Her time there wasn’t exactly peaceful, as Millay refused to live by the code of ethics for young ladies. However, she managed to graduate, and during the 1920s, Millay rose to fame through her lyrical poetry. In 1928, she became the second person (and first woman) to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. During World War II, she joined the Writers’ War Board, where she wrote propaganda for the American war effort. Her fame as a poet took a hit because of this, though Millay didn’t allow that to stop her. She died in 1950 after breaking her neck due to a fall down the stairs in her home.
Our next lady of the stamp is Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Before she became a renowned in other ways, Mildred Ella “Babe” Didrickson competed in and won sewing competitions, as well as made some professional music recordings. Her major claim to fame, though, was as an amateur athlete in multiple sports. While working as a secretary for an insurance company, Babe was allowed to compete on the company’s amateur team in basketball. She was named an All-American athlete for her work on this team three years in a row, and in 1932 they even competed in the championship. During the same timeframe, she represented the same company in the 1932 Amateur Athletic Union Championships, where she entered eight of ten events and won first place in five of them. Later the same year, she represented the United States in track and field events in the Summer Olympics, where she brought home three medals—two golds and a silver. She also competed in baseball, bowling, billiards…but her greatest claim to fame was in golf. Babe Zaharias was the first woman to ever compete in a regular PGA tournament, was a founding member of the LPGA when it was created a few years after she took up the sport, and was said by New York Times writer Charles McGrath that “Except for perhaps Arnold Palmer, no golfer has ever been more beloved by the gallery.”
Dr. Mary Walker is the next woman featured on a postage stamp, this time in 1982. I’ve written about Dr. Walker before, so if you’d like more information on her, please refer to my earlier post here. She was an abolitionist, a Civil War surgeon, a prisoner of war for four months during 1864, received a medal of honor, and fought for women’s suffrage and many other things after the war’s end.
In 1982, Dorothea Dix earned her place in postal history due to her work for the poor and indigent mentally ill. It was during a stay in Europe during the 1830s that Dix first became aware of the plight of the mentally ill. After returning to America, she began to investigate how the mentally ill were treated when they had no family who could or would take care of them. In Massachusetts, she found that many were locked away in the darkest basement cells in prisons or almshouses, relegated to the areas reserved for the worst criminals. The air was often putrid and foul, with no light by which to see. After presenting her findings to the state legislature, she moved on to a similar task in New Jersey, Illinois, North Carolina, and many other states. All told, her efforts resulted in opening thirty-two mental hospitals in various states, as well as schools for children with learning disabilities, schools for the blind, and nursing schools.
Next up is Pearl S. Buck, a renowned novelist best known for The Good Earth, which earned her a Pulitzer Prize. Raised by her missionary parents in China, Buck spent much of her life in this country, developing a deep love for it and its people. Many of her writings focused on her experiences in China and Japan. After moving back to the United States, Buck spent her later years advocating for the adoption of mixed-race children from other countries. She began the first foster home for such children, located next to her own home—and when it quickly became too crowded for simply fostering these kids, she turned it into the first international adoption agency. She also started orphanages in various other countries.
As we wind down our post for today, let’s take a look at Lillian M. Gilbreath, who was featured on a postage stamp in 1984. This interesting lady was mother two twelve children, and also both a psychologist and an industrial engineer. Along with her husband Frank, she paired her two areas of expertise to do studies on how workers used machinery and find ways to streamline those machines to make them more productive. She and Frank were on the cutting edge of this burgeoning industry of “industrial and organizational psychology” (a precursor to our modern-day ergonomics). The husband and wife team worked with many large companies like Macy’s and Johnson & Johnson, and after Frank’s death, Lillian continued her business. She also found ways to streamline the tasks of the typical housewife to make her household chores and duties faster, so that she could seek work outside the home. In that vein, Lillian is credited with created the “work triangle” setup of many modern kitchens. Two of her children—Frank Jr. and Ernestine—wrote two humorous books about life in the Gilbreath family. You’ll certainly recognize at least one of the titles. They were Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes.
It’s Your Turn: Which of the women who were honored with their own stamp do you find the most memorable, and why?
Jennifer Uhlarik discovered western novels at twelve when she swiped the only “horse” book from her brother’s bookshelf. Across the next decade, she devoured westerns and fell in love with the genre. While attaining a B.A. in writing from the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. She has finaled in and won numerous writing competitions and appeared on various best-seller lists. Besides writing, she’s been a business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, a historical researcher, a publisher, and a full-time homemaker. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband and fur children.
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Separated as children when they were adopted out to different families from an orphan train, the Braddock siblings have each grown up and taken on various jobs within law enforcement and criminal justice.
Youngest child, Callie, has pushed past her insecurities to pursue a career as a Pinkerton agent. Middle child, Andi, has spent years studying law under her adoptive father’s tutelage. And the eldest and only son, Rion, is a rough-and-tumble bounty hunter.
When the hunt for a serial killer with a long history of murders reunites the brother and sisters in Cambria Springs, Colorado, they find themselves not only in a fight for justice, but also a fight to keep their newly reunited family intact. How will they navigate these challenges when further complicated by unexpected romances?
