Several Lincoln County women were honored Wednesday for theircontributions to the community.

During a celebration of National Women’s History Month, theBrookhaven/Lincoln County Retired Teachers Association honoredretired women teachers.

Mae Robinson Brown, Velma Smith Lee, Fannie Lee Lewis, JuliaCarol Smith, Clasteen Tucker, Dorothy Harris, Celeste Robbins, MaryP. Smith and Lillie Jackson were recognized for making a differencethrough their decades of teaching in the area.

The teachers were selected by members of the retired teachersorganization and members of the community.

“This month we pay special tribute to the women who have madeour nation great,” said W.A. Matthews, program chairman andspeaker.

The group also voted Mary, the mother of Jesus, as the mostinfluential woman in the Bible. Rosa Parks was voted the presentday woman of the world for her famous stand against racialdiscrimination on a bus in Montgomery, Ala.

Margaret Walker Alexander, a writer from Jackson, received thewomen of history of the world award.

Matthews said those women were great examples of how “women havenot been content to just dream.”

“In every generation, women have taken action to free theirdreams,” said Matthews.

He spoke to the group gathered for the luncheon about a numberof famous women and their accomplishments throughout history.

“Over the years, women’s visions of a better world have sweptacross our nation, leading to actions that have changed the courseof history,” said Matthews.

He talked of how history has changed from the beginning of thewomen’s rights and suffrage movements in the mid 1850s toCalifornia voters electing two women senators in 1992.

“Throughout our nation, women have made history, sometimes inthe most unlikely places,” he said. “Ordinary women in ordinaryplaces have achieved extraordinary things.”

Matthews also told members of the retired teachers group thatthey should be thankful for living in a country that allows morefreedom than most countries.

“Just look around the world and you will see that many women arenot as fortunate as women in America,” he said.