March is Women's History Month. This month we will feature 100 photos of Oxford's women through history. 

Today's Women's History selections feature Oxford's three women First Selectmen -  Kate C. Cosgrove, Kathy Johnson, and Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers. Each of these former chief executives of the town were elected as members of the Democratic party.

Kate Cosgrove was elected Oxford's first woman First Selectman in 1995. She is shown greeting Dr. Henry Lee, Chief Criminologist and Director of the Connecticut State Forensic Laboratory, to Great Oak School in 1997. Prior to her election she served many years as member and chairman of the Oxford Board of Education.  She was President and member of the Oxford Junior Women's Club in town, when that organization was active in community events. She continues to be serve and lead on the Oxford Democratic Town Committee.

Kathy Johnson was elected in 2001.  On the day she was took office, she learned a town resident had been hospitalized for anthrax poisoning. Local resident, Ottilie Lundgren, 94, died the day before Thanksgiving in 2001, making her just one of five Americans to perish from inhalation anthrax months after the Sept. 11 attacks. Years later, it is believed Lundgren was a random victim, that her junk mail passed through the same postal center in New Jersey that carried anthrax-laced letters addressed to two U.S. senators. For a summary of the events she faced shortly after coming into office see the following article on Patch: http://patch.com/connecticut/oxford-ct/the-day-terror-came-to-oxford-s-front-door.  Elected as a Democratic candidate, she has since become unaffiliated and has announced plans to run as an unaffiliated candidate for First Selectman in the next election.

Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers was elected in 2007. She served on the Oxford Board of Education and is now an Honorary Member of the Oxford Democratic Town Committee.  Her photo shows her taking the oath of office being administered by Susan Bysiewica, Connecticut Secretary of State, surrounded by family members.  Her administration faced a crisis upon the discovery of theft through the Tax Collector's office, when the formerly popular tax  collector who had been endorsed by both political parties in previous elections, was accused and later convicted. See http://valley.newhavenindependent.org/archives/entry/officials_testify_in_case_against_oxford_tax_collector/

OXFORD'S MOST HISTORIC WOMAN: Adeline Gray, barnstorming parachutist and first person to live-test the nylon parachute. The new material was necessary as the country's supply of silk from Japan was cut off, and American servicemen needed parachutes for the war effort.  The Historical Society will hold a special program on June 4 to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Adeline's Historic Leap. Save the date for an exciting and informative event. To read more about Adeline's life, see article by Dorothy A. DeBisschop which appeared in PATCH: http://patch.com/connecticut/oxford-ct/adeline-grays-historic-leap

To see all of the Oxford's Historic Women videos posted this month, see the Society webpage:  http://www.oxford-historical-society.org/March/woman-history.html