When teacher June Delano heard trees were being cut down in Bird Park to make way for a soccer field, she rallied her neighbors and friends. It was a wet June morning in 1984, and by the time the phone calls were finished, roughly 50 protestors had gathered at Beadling Road to halt the local soccer association. 

According to her son Jon Delano, the newspaper dramatically reported that his mother had tied herself to a tree to stop the chainsaws. In reality, he confided, she’d had her college-aged daughter tie herself to a tree instead, while the volunteers cut around her. 

“But by then it was too late,” he laughed. “My mother was labeled a tree hugger.” 

Jon said the protest at Bird Park changed the course of June’s future. It led to her running for commissioner, where she became the first Democratic woman elected to the Mt. Lebanon Commission in 1985. While she lost the vote 4-1 to build a soccer field, she co-founded the Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy and created “School in the Park,” a program every third grader in the school district still participates in. 

“My mother was an incredible woman,” Jon said. “She would not be deterred by defeat. She would try to turn defeat into victory in another way.” 

The Historical Society of Mount Lebanon honored over a dozen area women who, like June, made an impact in the community with a reception on Mar. 21 as part of the “Barrier-Breaking Women” exhibit. 

Honorees included early 20th-century aviatrix Jeanne Picard, who is credited as the first Pittsburgh woman to fly a helicopter; Kathryn Peoples, the first Mt. Lebanon librarian; Mary B. Larsen, Carolyn M. Byham and Delano, who were the first three women elected to the Mt. Lebanon Commission, as well as slain FBI Special Agent Martha Dixon, for whom “Martha’s Run” is held every April. 

For Wilma McNeese, being honored for her work in co-founding the Black Association of South Hills (BASH) still comes as a surprise to her. 

“It’s humbling and surprising,” McNeese said. “It never occurred to me that it was something that would lead to legend or trail-blazing status. It was just getting involved in the community.” 

Current BASH president Renee Mack said McNeese’s work speaks to her visionary nature; she saw a need and made it happen. 

Mack said BASH — which serves as a social, civic and charitable organization — is thriving nearly 50 years after its inception, and McNeese is still recruiting and mentoring young Black women. 

“(McNeese) has poured into us all she knows, but she has an expectation that we will pour our knowledge into the community we live in,” Mack said.

For those women who were honored posthumously, friends and family said the exhibit has been bittersweet and nostalgic. 

“It’s funny how life has a way of weaving experiences through everything in life,” Mt. Lebanon Chief of Police Jason Haberman said. He was remembering how he first met Mary Eichinger, one of the first female officers in the township’s police department. 

When he was a teenager, Haberman said he experienced a situation that led to law enforcement involvement. Eichinger was the detective assigned to his case. He said that her level of compassion and care towards him and his friends is what helped him decide to become a cop. 

Later in her career, Eichinger spearheaded investigating financial crimes against the elderly, earning the 2002 Officer of the Year Award from the Pittsburgh chapter of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators. 

“She really was a force in law enforcement and was a groundbreaker,” Haberman said. “I carry on Mary’s legacy. We really are indebted to her and her legacy.” 

Another honoree, Sally Lupovitz, was a local business owner and political activist who got her family members active in the causes she believed in. 

“Had she lived to see this, she would have been very pleased and very proud,” said Laura Horowitz, Lupovitz’s daughter. 

Horowitz said her mother had her door-knocking at the age of 11. The result was her thinking that was a normal thing to do. 

“She took on some stuff that was not easy in Mt. Lebanon,” Horowitz explained. “But she was never shy about raising her voice for good causes.” 

The progressive Lupovitz, a delegate to the 1976 Democratic convention who hosted then-Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in her Mt. Lebanon home, worked to make friends across the political divide. 

“It would have been gratifying to know that her efforts did not go unnoticed,” Horowitz added. 

Historical Society Vice President Jenny Wood said the “Barrier-Breaking Women” exhibit has been a labor of love as all these women have paved the path for each other. 

“The good news is, it’s not over,” Jon said. “The truth is every single day there are women breaking barriers in Mt Lebanon and across the South Hills. I can envision another exhibit of barrier-breaking women of the 21st century.” 

Read more about the Mt Lebanon women featured in the Barrier-Breaking Women exhibit at: tinyurl.com/BarrierBreakingWomen