Maude Mabra Photograph from the "Columbus Dispatch"

This black-and-white portrait of Maude Mabra was published in the August 30, 1970 "Columbus Dispatch," page 21A. Mabra is pictured facing to the left of the camera, smiling and with her hand against her chin. 

The photograph accompanied an article by Robert Albrecht, "84-Year-Old Suffragette: Worthington Woman Broke Ice at Polls." The photograph is credited "Dispatch Photo." 

Mabra is believed to have been the first woman in Worthington to vote on November 2, 1920, after women achieved suffrage. According to the "Dispatch" article, she "marched into Worthington City Hall at 5 a.m.," and cast her ballot for Warren G. Harding. "She took her ballot behind the curtains, marked it and dropped it in the wooden box." 

Mabra was a cook at the Worthington Inn, and arrived at the polls so early because her husband, Keary (Zeke), was a barber and had to be at work. The Mabras lived for about 10 years at the house at 782 Hartford Street. 

According to the "Dispatch" article, "She says she started out Republican and stayed that way. President Eisenhower was her favorite, 'He was my boyfriend,' she says, but 'those Kennedys' came closest to changing her mind."

Mabra worked a variety of jobs following her years at the Worthington Inn. At the time of the 1970 "Dispatch" article, the 84-year-old cooked for a "Mrs. W. H. Hoagland, 1700 E. Broad Street. 'She's 10 years older than I am and she's still alive,' Mrs. Mabra says in support of her cooking."