Lila Sapinsley was a role model for woman leaders

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Fran Ostendorf, EditorI wasn’t fortunate enough to have known Lila Sapinsley. But I wish I had. Certainly the tributes that I’ve heard in the last week have painted a picture of a strong advocate for women, a caring mentor for girls and a wonderful member of our community.

She is probably best known for her service to the state of Rhode Island, first as a Democrat and then as a Republican. She was a state senator and rose to be minority leader, the first woman to hold a leadership position in the Rhode Island General Assembly. She served on various other public committees and boards. All the while, she was a strong advocate for women’s causes.

Later in life, she focused on mentoring girls letting them know they could do anything they set their minds to do.

Here is a sampling of what people from all reaches of the community are saying about her:

Rabbi Leslie Y. Gutterman, of Temple Beth-El in Providence, said, “Lila Sapinsley had a regal presence and a common touch. She was at home in the halls of power and influenced civic leaders. But she could also be found picking up a lemon cake treat for a homebound friend and tutoring a fifth-grade girl at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, telling her that she could be anything in life that she wanted to be. Lila grew older with increasing radiance even as the Hanukkah menorah continues to grow ever brighter. She will be dearly missed.”

Charlie Bakst wrote about politics for The Providence Journal. He called Sapinsley one of the very finest public servants he’d ever covered. “She was the leading Senate Republican (of the liberal kind we seldom see these days) amid a sea of often hostile Democrats – tough sledding but she was the picture of perseverance.”

Sapinsley remained active. Says Bakst, “I ran into her this past October at a fundraiser for GOP lieutenant governor nominee Catherine Taylor. We chatted and she told me she was to be among the evening’s speakers, and she asserted she had no idea of what she was going to say. But when her turn came, she spontaneously and flawlessly delivered a rousing speech in support of Taylor.”

Carol Young, deputy executive editor of The Providence Journal when she retired in 2010, remembers first encountering Sapinsley in the late 1960s as a young reporter. Sapinsley was chair of the Board of Trustees of State Colleges. She was inspiring as “a woman of influence among a sea of male leaders.”

Now on the board of Inspiring Minds, a Providence nonprofit that sends tutors into public schools, Young continued, “I always had her on a pedestal but nothing amazed me more than when she, at 90, said she wanted to be a volunteer for Inspiring Minds.

“It wasn’t long before she was organizing a special career program for a group of fifth-grade girls at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. She brought in a diverse group of women from a variety of professions to talk to the girls and answer questions. She wanted to raise expectations and expand the possibilities for these girls. And I am confident that she succeeded.”

Sapinsley was more than a leader. She was more than a volunteer. She was someone special and will be missed.