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WISE Women honored

Sister Paula DelGrosso earns nod for lifetime achievement

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Sister Paula DelGrosso, director of the St. Vincent de Paul Food for Families Soup Kitchen, will receive the Lifetime Achievement award during the WISE Women of Blair County 2023 Tribute Dinner on Wednesday at The Casino at Lakemont Park. Tickets have been sold out, organizers said.

In addition to DelGrosso, this year's honorees include:

-- Arts & Letters -- Jane Purdy Hite, vice president of the Blair County Arts Foundation.

-- Business & Professional -- Stephanie Nycum Doliveira, executive vice president of People & Culture at Sheetz Inc.

-- Community Service Volunteer -- Betsy Lehman, board member of Dreams Go On.

-- Education -- Harriett L. Gaston, community historian African American Heritage Festival.

-- Nonprofit/Government -- Ilissa Zimmerman, judge in the Blair County Court of Common Pleas.

-- Rising Star -- Alicia Williams, Sexual Assault and Family Violence awareness advocate.

Lifetime achievement

Sister Paula DelGrosso is a champion for those who enter St. Vincent DePaul Food for Families Soup Kitchen.

Born in Altoona, Sister Paula is a sister to Jackie, and daughter to Mary and Tom.

After graduating from Altoona High School, Sister Paula earned an associate's degree from Mount Aloysius, a bachelor's degree from Saint Francis University and a master's degree and certification in counseling from Duquesne University.

Her religious vocation began in 1957 with the Carmelite Community of the Word. She then served 34 years with the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese as an educator and counselor for 12 years, followed by 22 years as an office administrator.

Sister Paula was also assistant superintendent of schools for 18 years.

She started her career as director of St. Vincent DePaul Food for Families Soup Kitchen 32 years ago and is motivated by her "desire to bring out the best in everyone no matter what their circumstances might be." It is this desire that maintained a steadfast network of support during the pandemic shutdown.

Arts & Letters

Jane Purdy Hite has supported the Altoona Symphony Orchestra and the Altoona Community Theatre and is the vice president of the Blair County Arts Foundation board of directors and committee chair for A Night for the Mishler.

Hite also embarked on a project to document and preserve the history of the Mishler.

She was born in 1946 in Pittsburgh and attended Quaker Valley High School before graduating from Wilson College in Chambersburg. She and her husband, Lee, have three girls: Laura Lawhead (husband, Scott), Katie Brouse (husband, Scott) and Betsy Bensten (husband, Ryan). They also have 10 grandchildren: Nate, Mitch, Scotty, Maggie, Thomas, Emmie, Grey, Lexi, Landon and Bella.

Business & Professional

Stephanie Nycum Doliveira was born in 1971 in Johnstown, the daughter of Stephen and Sandra Nycum. She received her bachelor of science degree from Penn State University and a Juris Doctor degree from Widener University School of Law.

Doliveira has been with Sheetz for nearly 22 years.

She was awarded the Great Place to Work for All Leadership Award. Convenience Store News also recognized her with the "Top Women in Convenience" honor in 2016 and 2020. In October 2020, S&T Bank and Pittsburgh Magazine recognized her for leadership.

Doliveira was promoted this year to executive vice president of People & Culture.

She has been a member of the Pennsylvania Governor's Early Learning Investment Commission since 2008, and serves on the Sheetz Family Charities board of directors.

Doliveira is the first female executive vice president in the history of Sheetz.

Community Service Volunteer

Betsy M. Lehman was born in Altoona in 1967, graduated from Altoona Area High School in 1985, received a bachelor's degree from Penn State University in 1989 and earned her MBA from Saint Francis University in 1997.

Introduced to Dreams Go On by her husband, Lehman became involved with the therapeutic horse-riding program.

She is the 2022-23 president of the Altoona Kiwanis Club and joined the Blair County Chamber of Commerce WE-LEaD Committee and Young Entrepreneur's Academy.

Lehman has been a board member of the UPMC Altoona Foundation since 2020 and has taken on a new role with the General Federation of Women's Clubs as the GFWC Pennsylvania North Central District President's Project Chairperson. She is a 15-year member of the GFWC Hollidaysburg Area Women's Club.

Lehman and her husband, Joe, reside in Hollidaysburg with their two children: Lauren, 15, and Joey, 14; and their three golden retrievers: Scout, Bo, and Winnie.

Education

Harriett L. Gaston was born in Charlotte, N.C., the daughter of Ada M. Gaston.

She has one son, Varick.

Gaston earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Davidson College and a Master of Education in student personnel services at Vanderbilt University.

She is the Coordinator of Minority Programs in the Division of Undergraduate Studies at Penn State Altoona.

In 1997, Gaston assumed leadership of the African American Heritage Project.

She also took part in a project to recognize, clean up and celebrate Pennsylvania cemeteries that hold the remains of the United States Colored Troops. She worked with the Blair County Historical Society, the African American Heritage Project and Penn State Altoona to clean up the Eastern Light Cemetery and to present a program recognizing the remains of the six men who enlisted with the USCT and fought in the Civil War.

In 2021, Gaston worked with students to create a mural honoring local Black history.

She is involved in ArtsAltoona, the Pennsylvania International Railroad Month Committee, the Hollidaysburg Heritage Guided Tour, the Blair County Branch of the NAACP, the Blair County Historical Society, the Blair County Genealogical Society, the Railroaders Memorial Museum and WISE Women.

Nonprofit/government

Ilissa Zimmerman was born in San Francisco, the daughter of Len and Bonnie and the sister of Josh. She and her husband, Scott Glass, have two adult children, Ginger and Grant.

A graduate of Altoona Area High School, class of 1977, Zimmerman received a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 1981 and a J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law in 1984.

She has been in public service for more than

30 years, with much of that time spent serving as the Blair County District Attorney's Office liaison for DUI Court.

She maintained her own law office for many years before becoming a Divorce Master, a Support Hearing Officer for Blair County and a custody pretrial hearing offer.

She was also appointed judge for the Blair Common Pleas Court.

Rising Star

Alicia Williams was born in Altoona to Helen and Wilson Carper and has two brothers.

She and her husband, Andrew, have three children.

Williams earned a bachelor's degree from Penn State Altoona in human development and family studies and, while working on her master's in social work at Louisiana State University, works part time at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College.

Williams describes her research with her advisors as setting the "groundwork for my passion to learn, expand and demand the need for change in society." She conducted and oversaw her own research showing evidence that the "steel ceiling" in corrections is prevalent.

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