Memorial dedicated to Kirtley, women's right to vote

White and purple flowers sat on the ground around Kirtley’s memorial, which organizers draped in a purple cloth until its unveiling.

Kirtley is Daviess County’s “first lady of law.”

She was Owensboro’s first female attorney and first female judge. Also, she was the first Daviess County woman elected to the Kentucky General Assembly.

“It has taken too long to properly acknowledge the achievements of Louise Gasser Kirtley and of women, in general, in our community,” said Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly. “Today’s monument is the first — the first — dedicated to a woman on our courthouse lawn. If you look around, we have many monuments dedicated to causes and people, but not a single woman has a plaque or memorial. For that, I apologize.”

The memorial’s main sponsors are the local chapter of American Association of University Women, Daviess County Bar Association, Daviess County Fiscal Court and city of Owensboro. Besides a tribute to Kirtley, the memorial includes the text of the 19th Amendment, which secured women’s right to vote.

The monument stands across Second Street from Kirtley & Kirtley, the law firm she founded with her husband, Bill Kirtley.

She attended the University of Louisville School of Law, where she was one of only two women in her class. She was admitted to the Kentucky Bar in 1931.

Kirtley was known for wearing pearls and butterfly pins. She tossed a hanky in the air when someone made an inappropriate remark.

Kirtley, who never faced a female political opponent, ended her speeches by saying, “May the best woman win.”

Elisabeth Kirtley Jacobs, Kirtley’s oldest child, wore a butterfly pin in honor of her mom to Wednesday’s ceremony.

“Mother would have been so proud,” Jacobs told the crowd of her mother’s memorial.

Former County Attorney Bob Kirtley, who is one of Kirtley’s sons, also attended Wednesday’s ceremony. He said he didn’t know about his mom’s contributions to Daviess County until he was an adult.

“I’m pleased and honored that our community would want to celebrate my mother,” he said.

When it came to celebrating the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote, local historian Aloma Dew told the crowd generations of suffragettes worked more than 70 years to earn that right. It is rare for campaigns to survive that many decades, she said, because “people usually give up.”

“(The right to vote) was not given,” Dew said. “It was worked for and fought for.”

Some suffragettes were jailed, mocked and reviled.

“They still didn’t give up,” Dew said.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Wednesday’s celebration was very different than it was first imagined. Organizers plan to rededicate the memorial on Aug. 26, 2021. Current plans call for that event to include a parade, speeches, music and a reception.

Renee Beasley Jones, 270-228-2835, rbeasleyjones@messenger-inquirer.com.