Meet the 2023 Pawtucket Hall of Famers (part 1)

The Pawtucket Hall of Fame Committee proudly announces this year’s list of 2023 Pawtucket Hall of Fame inductees. The public is invited to its annual Pawtucket Hall of Fame Banquet and Induction Ceremony on Friday, November 3, 2023, beginning at 6pm (reception), 7pm (dinner) at the Pawtucket Armory Arts Center, 172 Exchange Street, Pawtucket, RI.

Tickets may still be available!

Master of Ceremonies for the evening will be RI Radio & TV and 2017 Pawtucket Hall of Famer, Ron St. Pierre. Opening ceremonies speaker for the evening, will be 2022 Pawtucket Hall of Fame inductee, James R. Hoyt, Jr. (chief executive officer of the Boy’s & Girls Club of Pawtucket). The induction award is given to those individuals whose efforts, in any line of endeavor, have gone ‘above & beyond’ in their community service activities and/or who have been vehicles that shine a positive light upon the city.

This year’s 2023 Pawtucket Hall of Fame Inductees are: Gail Ahlers (CEO, The Empowerment Factory), Phyllis Nathanson (real estate developer and artist advocate), Beth Roberge, (advocate for older Rhode Islanders), Rick Roth (owner of Mirror Image, a cutting edge textile printing company, lifetime activist, and founder of Pawtucket Film Festival), Patricia St. Germain (long-time Fairlawn activist and President of Fairlawn Against Crime Together), and historical inductee, Martha Jencks Chase (early American pioneer and inventor).

In addition to these inductions, this year’s recipient of the traditional “Person of the Year Award”, which is given to recognize the person the committee believes has made an outstanding contribution over this past year will be presented to be Anchor/Reporter, Alison Bologna from WJAR NBC10.

Tickets are $105.00 per person (cash or check only). Tables of (10) may be purchased to accommodate a group or family and should be purchased early. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center, 175 Main Street, Pawtucket, RI which is opened 7 days a week from 10:00am to 4:00pm, OR by mail addressed to: Pawtucket Hall of Fame Committee, 137 Roosevelt Avenue, Pawtucket, RI 02860. Checks should be made payable to: Pawtucket Hall of Fame Committee. Tickets will not be sold after October 21 and will not be sold at the door.

The Pawtucket Hall of Fame is a 501c3 non-profit organization established in 1986 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Pawtucket as a city. The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to honor the contributions of people whose efforts, in any line of endeavor, have added to the heritage of the City of Pawtucket.

For more info, visit www.pawtucketri.com or call #401-273-5367.
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Meet the Inductees into the 2023 Pawtucket Hall of Fame – today we feature 1/2 of the inductees – the second 1/2 will be tomorrow.

2023 Person of the Year Alison Bologna

“Expect the unexpected” may be the new watchword of Shri Yoga, which is dedicated to light and prosperity, striking a pose of flexibility of nimbleness, with the ability to pivot with the best of entrepreneurs in Rhode Island.

It started in 2010 when Alison Bologna, a Pawtucket resident, who is also an award winning journalist and local news anchor at WJAR NBC 10, decided to open a yoga studio in one of the empty downtown storefronts in Pawtucket. She named it “Shri Studio” with the intention of bringing light (the definition of “Shri” in Sanskrit) into the district by offering low cost and free yoga outreach classes to students who otherwise wouldn’t have access.

While serving more than 8,500 students every year, Alison outgrew three leased spaces in the city and began to look for something more permanent. Knowing this, and a bit about her love of design and architecture, she was soon convinced to invest in a 15,000 s/f underutilized mill near the new MBTA commuter rail hub in the Conant Thread District in 2018.

Alison has supported and contributed to the betterment of Pawtucket by bringing Urban Revitalization Yoga to our city. She received her undergraduate degree from the Medil School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She also graduated with honors from Columbia University School of Journalism and received her Masters degree in English with honors from Harvard University. She currently anchors NBC 10 News at Sunrise with Mario Hilario. She is the recipient of an Emmy, an Edward R. Murrow award, 2 Associated Press awards, a Justice Award from the RI Attorney General, and a Gracie Allen award. In addition to her journalism employment, she is a staunch advocate for bringing yoga to all in Pawtucket.

She received her Yoga Alliance Teaching Certificate in 2006 and went on to open the first SHRI Yoga Studio in Pawtucket in 2009. In 2012, she started the 501-c-3 nonprofit organization, SHRI Service Corps, providing free yoga to a multitude of disenfranchised citizens of Pawtucket. The SHRI Yoga Studio offers yogato those with behavioral health issues, in recovery, or with developmental disabilities, as well as children and veterans. In 2014, she partnered with a local bakery to form SHRI Food which makes her infamous “SHRI Bark”. She generously supplies this nutritious health bar to Pawtucket schools and other non-profit organizations.

For Alison’s efforts, she has been honored with a Woman of Excellence award, a RI Small Business Entrepreneurial Woman award, and a Girl Scouts Leading Women of Distinction award. In 2023, she opened her studio at 390 Pine Street in the newly re-developed historical mill that has been transformed into community space near the recently opened train station in Pawtucket, where she now has more than 20 certified yoga instructors employed there.

Her resume demonstrates hard work, dedication and commitment to the citizens of Pawtucket and we are grateful and fortunate to have her in our city. For these reasons, Alison Bologna has been chosen as the recipient of 2023 Pawtucket Hall of Fame Person of the Year award – Congratulations Alison!

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2023 Historical Inductee – Martha Jencks Chase 2023

Martha Jencks Chase was born in 1851 and achieved infamy as a doll designer and manufacturer, an original entrepreneur of her time. She was the daughter of a doctor, the sister of a doctor, and married a doctor with whom she had seven children.

As a progressive reformer, Martha observed the dolls available in her time as heavy bisque or porcelain and therefore fragile. They usually represented elegant ladies and were not conducive to a child’s ability to actually play. Inspired by her own childhood Izannah Walker cloth doll, she conceived a softer, more durable doll that would promote a child’s imagination and allow the child to play while simultaneously practice parenting skills.

She was a talented seamstress, and in 1891 began making these dolls for her own children out of stockinette fabric with painted faces, using an insoluble paint that was washable. She painted facial features and a bobbed hair style (popular during this era) with a side part and included jointed elbows and knees on her dolls. Her dolls became popular in the community, and by 1899 she had set up operation in a backyard building of her home located in Park Place, Pawtucket, known as “The Doll House” and employed women to help construct the dolls. By 1901 she started the manufacturing company known as MJ Chase located at 156 Broadway in Pawtucket.

In 1905, the dolls had expanded to include characters such as George and Martha Washington, and various Alice in Wonderland and Dickens characters and by 1911 the dolls were seen as possible teaching tools being tested at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket to train nurses and doctors in human medical techniques. Ms. Lauder Sutherland at the Hartford Training School for Nurses requested a life-sized doll for her students and the “Chase Hospital Doll” was born.

She was 5 feet 4 inches with jointed limbs. Martha’s husband helped revise the doll to include even more realistic features in order to teach injections, as well as a variety of other assessment techniques. The Chase Hospital Doll became the standard teaching method for health professionals in the
US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. By 1913, 6 different size dolls were available and sold in Macy’s Department store and FAO Schwarz. They were advertised in Ladies Home Journal at the time to mothers newly acquainted with the idea of germs on their children’s toys and these dolls were washable.

After her death in 1925 at the age of 74, the dolls were still being used to teach and in World War II, her company was commissioned to make a male mannequin doll in order to train the medical corps. The business continued into the 1970’s. Martha Chase dolls today are found in museums and on the antique doll market where they command high prices. Martha Jencks Chase was a pioneering woman who contributed her talents not only to children, but also to the medical field. She was a truly remarkable
woman, especially for the time in which she lived. We are honored to include her as the historical inductee into the 2023 Pawtucket Hall of Fame.

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2023 Inductee Gail Ahlers

“I love Pie, Shoes, Hats, Art, and Handcrafted Jewelry”. That was Pawtucket’s introduction to Gail Ahlers when she served as President of the Foundry Artists Association and relocated their annual holiday show from Providence to Pawtucket back in 2002, a time when scores of artists were moving into Pawtucket’s old historic mill buildings.

Born in the New York area, Gail moved to Providence to attend Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 1985 with a BFA in Light Metals. She has studied art history in Paris and sculpture at the San Miguel de Allende Institute in Mexico. In 1989, Gail formed Ahlers Designs “creating Joy by making custom awards and unique gifts”.

Gail was one of the first and longest standing tenants of the Hope Artiste Village where she was very helpful in bringing the Farm Fresh Farmer’s market to the village and helped promote this event for many years with the artist co-op at the farmer’s market.

In 2014, Gail’s passion pivoted to the establishment of The Empowerment Factory, a 501c3 non-profit organization since 2015. Here she was inspired to bring free programs with a joyful approach to teach children the skills they need to lead happier, healthier and more empowered lives in Pawtucket’s Title 1 schools. The focus of the curriculum is on art, environmental education and social emotional learning. Partnering with elementary schools, the recreation department and many social service agencies, she has been able to build connections and service to Pawtucket’s youth. She has also launched a youth
ambassador program that provides career exploration for teens in the teaching profession.

The Empowerment Factory hosts bi-annual environmental cleanups in the Woodlawn community and partners with the Pawtucket Arts Festival to bring youth activities to the festival, as well as community art projects. Gail is also heavily involved in her community outside of work which includes the 2019
Wishing Tree art mural installation along the Baldwin Loop walking path as well as the 2017 Baldwin Loop art mural installation that included four murals. She was also honored as the 2022 “Person of the Year” award by the Pawtucket Foundation for her commitment to the community as well as with the 2019 “Program of the Year Award” from the RI Environmental Education Association, along with numerous awards for her Jewelry Design. She is passionate about the mission of The Empowerment Factory and is truly making a difference in the city as well as to the thousands of young students she has influenced.

She is a recognizable figure throughout the city, with flowers in her hair and a bright smile, bringing joy to everyone she meets. We welcome Gail Ahlers into this year’s Pawtucket Hall of Fame.

See Part 2 on the inductees, tomorrow!