Famous Arizona Women Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sharlot Hall

Sharlot Hall was born in 1870 in Kansas. She arrived in the Arizona Territory in 1882 where she first settled with her family 12 miles southeast of Prescott. She is the author of three publications including "Cactus and Pine: Songs of the Southwest", "Poems of a Ranch Woman" and "Sharlot Hall on the Arizona Strip: A Diary of a Journey Through Northern Arizona in 1911".

It has been suggested that her most famous poem, "Arizona" (written in 1906) was one of the main reasons that Arizona was designated as its own territory and not part of neighboring New Mexico. Governor Richard Sloan appointed Miss Hall the territorial historian in 1909, making her the first woman to hold public office in Arizona. Miss Hall spent much of her tenure traveling through Arizona, collecting oral histories.

In 1924, Miss Hall traveled to Washington, D.C. to personally deliver Arizona's presidential electors' votes. Miss Hall will also be remembered as the person who helped to create the Prescott Historical Society located in Prescott, AZ.

The museum has since changed its name to the Sharlot Hall Historical Society. Miss Hall died in 1943.

Answer: Mary Jane Colter

Mary Jane Colter was born in Pennsylvania in 1869. She designed Desert View, Bright Angel Lodge, Hermit's Rest, Phantom Ranch and Lookout Studio, all located at the Grand Canyon. Her buildings were created to be in harmony with their environment, to be a part of it and not to stand out from their surroundings.

In the History Room at Bright Angel Lodge, rocks and stones from the canyon's walls and floor were used in what has been called the "geological fireplace". Miss Colter created several Fred Harvey facilities including those in Kansas City, Kansas, St. Louis, Missouri, Santa Fe, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California.

In Arizona, Miss Colter designed La Posada in Winslow, Arizona which is still in operation today. Miss Colter died in 1956.

Answer: She was appointed to her husband's (William "Rosey" Rosenbaum) seat after his death.

Polly Rosenbaum was born in Iowa but raised in Colorado. She made Arizona her home in 1929. She married William "Rosey" Rosenbaum in 1939. He died in 1949 after 10 years as Gila County Representative to the Arizona State Legislature at which time Mrs. Rosenbaum was appointed to fulfill her husband's term of office. Mrs. Rosenbaum was re-elected every two years for the next forty-five years thus making her the longest serving legislator in Arizona history. Mrs. Rosenbaum worked to establish the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame.

As Mrs. Rosenbaum stated, "The women really won the West, not the men. The women are the ones who got the libraries and worked for the schools." Polly Rosenbaum died in 2003.

Answer: Margaret Taylor Hance

Margaret Taylor Hance was born in Iowa in 1923. She was elected the first woman mayor of Phoenix, Arizona in 1976. During her tenure, the Civic Plaza was expanded, Patriot's Park was created, and construction on both Arizona Science and Technology Museum and the Herberger Theater were begun. Vast improvements were made on the roads in and throughout Phoenix as well as major additions to Sky Harbor Airport.

In 1982, Mrs. Hance led the National Conference of Republican Mayors. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan brought her on board as co-chair of his re-election committee. Mrs. Hance was also instrumental in the election campaigns of George H.W. Bush.

In 1991, a park on the six-block deck of the downtown I-10 Freeway was named Hance Park. Margaret Taylor Hance died in 1990.

Answer: False

Sandra Day O'Connor was born March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas. She grew up on a cattle ranch near Duncan, Arizona which is in the southeast corner of the state. She became the first woman Supreme Court Justice in 1981, appointed by then President Ronald Reagan. She served on the Supreme Court until 2006 when, because of her husband's declining health, she resigned. When approved by the Senate, the vote was 99-0 to confirm her appointment. In addition to being a Supreme Court Justice, Mrs. O'Connor was named the second most powerful woman in America in 2001 by the "Ladies Home Journal". In August, 2009, President Obama presented Sandra Day O'Connor the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.

After retiring from the Supreme Court following more than 23 years on the bench, Sandra Day O'Connor settled in Phoenix, Arizona. At Arizona State University, the College of Law was named in her honor.

Answer: Rose Perica Mofford

Rose Mofford because the first female governor of the state of Arizona in 1988 when Governor Evan Mecham was impeached. Her main objective as governor was to heal the wounds of the state following the impeachment. State Senate Democratic leader Alfredo Gutierrez said of her) actions, "What she did was reinvest the system with dignity and honor." Ms. Mofford did not seek re-election in 1990. She served as the campaign committee chair of Terry Goddard's 2010 election bid for governor. Throughout her public career, she has been known as the woman with the "beehive" hairdo.

Answer: Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt was born in Tucson, Arizona in 1946. Before a career as a solo artist, Linda was part of a group called the Stone Poneys. In 1969, her first solo album, "Hand Sown...Hand Grown" was released. Since then, Ms. Ronstadt has had albums that have been certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum.

She has been called at various times throughout her career the "Queen of Rock" as well as the "First Lady of Rock". She has been linked romantically to Jerry Brown, governor of California, when he was running for president in the 1970's.

She was also once engaged to George Lucas. To date, Linda has never married although she has two children, one daughter and one son, both of whom she adopted. Throughout her distinguished career, she has reinvented herself several times over as a singer, song writer and producer.

As of December, 2011, Ms. Ronstadt has won eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards and an Emmy.

Answer: Allison DuBois

Allison DuBois was born in 1972 in Phoenix. Much like her television counterpart, Mrs. DuBois has worked in the district's attorney's office and has been a jury consultant. She considers herself to be more of a profiler, someone who "analyzes physical evidence to determine a perpetrator's behavorial patterns" (ehow.com) or a medium (a person supposedly used as a spiritual intermediary between the dead and the living) rather than a psychic.

Answer: Kerri Strug

Kerri Allyson Strug was born in 1977 in Tucson, Arizona. As part of the "Magnificent Seven", she and her teammates won gold in the all-around gymnastics competition at the 1996 Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia. Kerri, despite being injured, completed her turn on the vault. One of the most moving photos from that event showed Kerri, with ankle bandaged, being carried to the platform to receive her gold medal by her coach, Bela Karolyi.

After the Olympics, Kerri worked as an elementary school teacher before moving to Washington, D.C. in 2003.

She has competed in marathons and was a Yahoo correspondent for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Ms. Strug married Robert Fischer in 2010.

Answer: Pearl Hart

Pearl Taylor was born in Canada around 1871. She married Frederick Hart who was a jack of all trades as well as a gambler. Pearl left Mr. Hart and went to Colorado on her own and eventually ended up in Phoenix, Arizona where Frederick caught up with her, and they resumed their married life.

In 1899, after Frederick had run off to join Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, Pearl met Joe Boot. They robbed a stagecoach near Globe, Arizona, getting away with $431.20. Afterwards, the two became lost in the surrounding desert and were arrested four days after the robbery. Mrs. Hart was taken to Tucson as the jail in Florence did not have facilities for women. Pearl quickly became known as the "Bandit Queen" and delighted people who came to see her by giving them autographs.

She escaped before her trial but was soon re-captured and tried and was acquitted, despite pleading guilty! Her story was that she was robbing the stage to get money from her poor mother, which, of course, was a total fabrication.

The judge ordered another trial, this one charging Pearl with possession of a fire arm. Mrs. Hart was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison although she was paroled after eighteen months. After her time at the Yuma Territorial Prison, Pearl Hart disappeared into history with many conflicting reports surfacing concerning her later life and death. As for the claim that she was the only woman who robbed a stagecoach, Jane Kirkham robbed one near Leadville, Colorado in 1879, predating Mrs. Hart by 20 years.