Ellicott City (Map, News) - Their accomplishments have helped improve the health and quality of life of Howard’s residents.

Now they are immortalized in Howard County Women’s Hall of Fame.

Evelyn Bolduc, Pamela Mack, Ann Mech, Jane Walker and Jeanne Simons recently were selected by the Howard County Commission for Women and inducted during the 12th annual ceremony in Ellicott City.

They joined women who have contributed to the transformation of Howard County from a quaint, rural community into a growing, suburban hub in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

Evelyn Bolduc

Bolduc began by collecting $45 at her child’s elementary school to buy easels for the art room.

Today, she is raising $30 million in a capital campaign to expand and renovate Howard County General Hospital.

As chairwoman of the Howard Hospital Foundations Board of Trustees, Bolduc has helped to expand and relocate several critical areas of the hospital by raising $5 million.

“I’m being honored for just the amount of time I’ve given and the variety of organizations I have helped,” said Bolduc, who also has raised thousands of dollars for education since the early 1990s.

“I’m feeling very humbled. When I reviewed who had gone before me ... , I felt like my accomplishments were diminished in comparison to theirs. I’m very honored to be included.”

Bolduc, a 34-year county resident, also is founding patron of the Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource and Image Center, where cancer survivors and their families have access to resources and a salon where licensed aestheticians, cosmetologists, hair stylists and prosthesis professionals provide free consultations.

Bolduc also helped raise more than $750,000 when she was chairwoman of the Columbia Classic Grand Prix.

The Evelyn and J.P. Bolduc Endowment provides financial assistance for Howard Community College Rouse Scholars.

Ann Mech

Mech used her background in nursing, education and law to improve health care in her 17 years of volunteer service.

“It’s a constellation of efforts to improve access to health care as well as make sure the county continues to pursue health for the population,” said the 25-year county resident.

“Obviously, it’s a great honor for me to join the company of women I have known and admired for many years and be included with women of their caliber.”

She has helped prepare the county for a major pandemic flu outbreak, improved maternal and child health and planned the hospital’s growth through her work as chairwoman of the professional committee of the hospital’s trustees board, which oversees the quality of physicians and care-giver services.

Mech also focused on enforcing federal, state and county laws and regulations regarding health issues as the former chairwoman of Howard County Government Board of Health.

She works as the coordinator of legal affairs and assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore City.

She has served on numerous boards including the Howard County Health Improvement Leadership Team, Vantage House Continuing Care Retirement Community, Howard Community College, Kalmia Farms Community Association, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and Columbia Association’s Aquatics Advisory.

Jane Walker

Walker demonstrated how the personal can be political through her 20 years improving mental health and educational services for children with mental health needs.

“As a mother of five children, one who had significant mental health needs, it pleases me beyond measure that I have been part of an incredible organization that reaches out and provides services to these families,” said Walker, executive director of the Maryland Coalition of Families for Children’s Mental Health, a nonprofit that informs and supports to families who have children with mental health needs.

“Families aren’t prepared for this kind of thing. This is not something that was in the plans when they brought home this infant who later may develop mood disorders, depression or defiant behavior.”

She headed up the Family Life Center in Columbia, which became the first major resource center in Howard for mental health services.

She also serves on the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center Inc. board, Mental Hygiene Administration Advisory Council and Juvenile Justice Advisory Council

She took her expertise to Uganda to spend a year developing the first counseling center for abused children.

Walker also developed state legislation to address treatment and services obstacles, mental health policy issues and treatment program funding.

She was a founding board member and past president of the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, served on the board and as president of the Howard County Association of Community Services and was president of the Howard County Mental Health Association.

“Valentine’s Day is my favorite day of the year, and induction into the Women’s Hall of fame certainly exceeded that,” she said.

Jeanne Simons

Simons, of Columbia, received the Women’s Hall of Fame in History Award for her lifetime contributions to helping those with autism.

Simons, who died in 2005 at the age of 95, founded the Linwood Center in Ellicott City in 1955, a nonprofit that provides services for children and adults with autism.

“She was a pioneer. She started from scratch in the very early days of when autism was recognized and started being diagnosed,” said Karen Spence, deputy director of the Linwood Center, who accepted the award on behalf of Simons.

“She always said that she did it for the parents because their whole life was taken over by caring for these children and they had no rest.”

Simons wrote the book, “The Hidden Child: The Linwood Method for Reaching the Autistic Child,” which is used as a teaching guide for staff members at Linwood and other treatment centers serving individuals with autism.

Pamela Mack

Mack, a 35-year county resident, has used her leadership to influence the Columbia Association, housing and health care for almost 30 years, according to the Howard County Commission for Women.

She helped transition the CA board from the Rouse Company to community control in the 1980s and served as board chairwoman.

She also promoted low-income housing as chairwoman of the countywide housing task force.

As executive director and CEO of Health Alliance, a nonprofit providing uninsured residents with free healthcare, she got medical specialists to volunteer their services and improved its financial stability through her fundraising efforts.

She managed the transition of the Health Alliance patients into Chase Brexton Health Services, a federally qualified health clinic.

Mack has headed up the Family Life Center Board and Columbia Foundation Board’s Grants Review Committee and was vice president of the Columbia Festival of the Arts.

She serves on the Horizon Foundation board.

Mack could not be reached for comment.

cpeirce@baltimoreexaminer.com