Juliet Bernstein, a 105-year-old Chatham resident, receives the Mercy Otis Warren Cape Cod Woman of the Year Award Wednesday in Barnstable Village.
BARNSTABLE – The 18th Mercy Otis Warren Cape Cod Woman of the Year Award was presented to Juliet Bernstein Wednesday night in Barnstable Village.
The award recognizes a woman who exemplifies the traits of leadership in the community and has made significant contributions while embracing the ideals of patriotism.
The award is named after Mercy Otis Warren, who was born in West Barnstable in 1728. She was a playwright, a historian, a pioneer in women’s causes, a champion of liberty, an advocate of the Bill of Rights and a patriot.
Bernstein, a 105-year-old Chatham resident, started the Cape Cod Chapter of Fellowship of Reconciliation, an international peace and justice group.
She wrote the group’s newsletter until she was 100, brought internationally important speakers to F.O.R. events, helped initiate the Olive Branch Award for outstanding activism in peace and justice, and started the F.O.R. peace poetry contest at Nauset Regional Middle School.
Bernstein also served as president of the League of Women Voters Cape Cod Chapter, fought for teachers’ rights in strikes, pushed resolutions to make Cape Cod towns “nuclear free zones,” and successfully advocated for women to participate in the Chatham Town Band.
In 1993, she received the Unsung Hero Award from the Cape Cod Chapter of the NAACP in “recognition of her unyielding dedication to human rights.”
Bernstein was presented the award by last year’s recipient, Nancy Viall Shoemaker.
“Throughout her life she fought for what is right and fought with a passion,” Shoemaker said. “And that reminds you of a certain woman named Mercy Otis Warren.”
Bernstein recalls accompanying her mother in a horse drawn carriage to the polls in the early days of women’s voting rights.
She was encouraged by her mother’s progressive thinking, she earned a bachelor’s degree and Brooklyn College and a master’s degree from Columbia University Techer’s College. Bernstein taught in the New York public schools for many years.
“She is a woman who has stood up for liberty, and justice for all just as our allegiance to the flag declares,” Shoemaker said.
Bernstein was nominated by Lee Roscoe and was chosen by the award’s selection committee.
“She’s always looking out for other people,” said Judy Walden Scarafile, the selection committee chair. “Even if it is a small thing like getting women in the Chatham Town Band.”
Scarafile said Bernstein is the modern day embodiment of Mercy Otis Warren because of her lifelong activism for peace.
“She really covers a whole range of smaller town-related issues or national and international issues,” Scarafile said.
Former Mercy Otis Warren Cape Cod Woman of the Year Josephine Ives (2008) called Bernstein “the social conscience of the Town.”
Ives said Bernstein is kind to everyone – even individuals who are against what she is advocating.
The presentation of the award was made at Tales of Cape Cod, Olde Colonial Courthouse in Barnstable Village.
Previous recipients include: Marion Villeumier (2002), Jean Gardner (2003), Eugenia Fortes (2004), Felicia Penn (2005), Bonnie Snow (2006), Lynne Poyant (2007), Josephine Ives (2008), Mary LeClair (2009), Gloria Rudman (2010), Susan French (2011), Judy Walden Scarafile (2012), Dorothy Savarese (2013), Mary Lou Petitt (2014), Michelle DeSilva(2015), Ann Williams (2016), Dolores Daluz (2017), and Nancy Viall Shoemaker (2018).
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