Mujeres en la historia de OPALCO
March is Women’s History Month in America, an opportunity to carve out the time to recognize, remember, and appreciate all the women in our lives – mothers, daughters, sisters, partners, friends, coworkers.
Some of you may have heard the saying ‘women make the world go round’. Women have been a key part of OPALCO’s history since the very beginning and without them there would be no power in the San Juan Islands like there is today. Here is a highlight of three women who had a profound impact on OPALCO and the San Juan Islands as a whole.
Dr. Agnes Harrison
Dr Agnes Barlow Harrison – one of the founding members of OPALCO – was born in 1860 in Rockton, Ontario. She graduated from the University of Michigan medical school in 1882, where she was one of the only women in her medical program. In the late 1880s, she moved with her husband to Washington to practice medicine. Her and her husband practiced in Coupeville, Whidbey Island, Port Townshend, and then the San Juan Islands. In her time practicing medicine, she helped to deliver over 2,000 babies and provided essential care to islanders. Additionally, she founded and operated the Madrona Inn in Eastsound in 1913 along with her husband. Her and her husband’s involvement in founding the co-op as part of Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Act (REA) ensured that future generations in the San Juan islands could access safe and reliable power in a remote area that was undesirable to investor-owned utilities.
Ruby Cross Langell
Ruby Cross Langell was a very involved member of the Orcas Island community and played a significant and historic role in the cooperative. In August of 1939, Ruby Langell became the first woman to occupy a seat on the OPALCO Board of Directors. She filled a vacancy that was created by the resignation of J.E. Harrison and subsequently made OPALCO history. In addition to her time serving on the OPALCO Board, Ruby Cross Langell was involved in a number of things in the community – including but not limited to teaching for the Orcas Island schools circa 1948, being active in social and fraternal groups such as the Orcas Rebekah Lodge circa 1949, and serving as alternate secretary for the Orcas Island Garden club in 1961.
Ellen Marie Bruns Madan
Ellen Marie Bruns Madan was a life-long islander and dedicated community and family member. Born in 1927 on Shaw Island, she later moved to Orcas Island with her family and attended the West Sound schoolhouse. Her father, Eber Bruns, was given a job at OPALCO as the first ever Power Plant Operator and Chief Engineer in 1939. Ellen grew up in the cooperative and even lived with her parents and brother in the small main office next to the original generating plant on Mount Baker Road in Eastsound – the same building where Rock Island’s Eastsound headquarters are now located. In 1945, she married Buyral Madan who had a career of his own at OPALCO. Ellen was an instrumental member of the Orcas Power and Light team and provided essential support for the whole cooperative. While her husband was employed with OPALCO, Ellen would take all after-hours outage calls right at home. No matter the time of night, if the power was out, Ellen was there to help respond. She would relay all outage information to Buyral to pass to the crews, who would then be dispatched to go restore power. Her family’s legacy at OPALCO is tremendous, and she played a vital role in keeping the cooperative functioning at the level of efficiency and reliability that members expect to this day.
Modern Day
Today women are involved in all facets of the work at OPALCO, including management, communications, member services, accounting, energy savings, engineering, and IT. Outside of staff, women have played and continue to play a vital role of managing the co-op’s mission on the Board of Directors.
The women of OPALCO – past and present – ensure that our cooperative continues to successfully deliver reliable power to our members all year round. So yeah, you could say that here, women make the power go ‘round.
