The Arizona frontier will be highlighted in the next AZ Humanities speaker series event.

Jan Cleere will host “Saviors and Saints on the Arizona Frontiers” on Zoom from 11 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, June 8.

The event is free, but registration is required.

Here is how the city of Surprise describes the speaker event:

Health care in early Arizona was hardly reliable and frequently nonexistent. Often, settlers were on their own when tragedy struck, with women taking on the responsibility for the well-being of their families. 

Cleere will introduce the stories of a handful of women who influenced the history of the territory through their medical expertise and their spiritual leadership.

Theresa Ferrin’s comprehensive understanding of healing herbs earned her the title “Angel of Tucson.”

Florence Yount is recognized as Prescott’s first woman physician, while Teresita Urrea was sometimes lionized for her hands-on healing powers.

Saint Katharine Drexel invested much of her vast fortune in educating Navajo children.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet trudged across the blazing desert enduring untold hardships before arriving safely in the territory to administer to the health and well-being of the children of the desert.

It’s one of numerous speaker events the Surprise Arts and Cultural Advisory Commission puts on in partnership with Arizona Humanities.

Call the Human Service and Community Vitality Department at 623-222-3243.

Register for the event here.