On the 100th anniversary of women earning the right to vote, I’ve been thinking about the long line of strong women in my family. I never had the opportunity to meet my paternal great-grandmothers. Great-grandma Larson died giving birth and Great-grandma Gropper died six years before I entered the world.

I am a strong woman because a strong woman - Barbara Fields Larson - raised me.

I imagine her strength came from role models - strong Oakdale women - she grew up watching: her mother, Neola; grandmother, Annie; great-grandmother, Lulu and great-great-grandmother, Jane.

Lulu - or “Little...