BILLINGS - Billings School District 2 placed a plaque at the Lincoln Center on Tuesday afternoon to honor Hazel Hunkins Hallinan, who helped get women the right to vote.
It’s part of the William G. Pomeroy Foundation’s National Votes For Women Trail, which includes one woman from each state.
The marker has the suffragette colors of yellow, white, and purple.
Hunkins was the valedictorian for the class of 1908 when the Lincoln Center was known as Billings High School.
She then went to Vassar College and the University of Missouri.
Hunkins was instrumental in helping pass the 19th Amendment and getting women the right to vote.
"One of my favorite pictures of Hazel, she is standing in front of a biplane that she had dropped leaflets in California," said Ruth Ferris, a librarian in School District 2. "There was a person who made such a difference not only in her time but it's still the work she did laid groundwork for us."
She later became a leader in the women’s movement in England.
Her children and grandchildren live in England.
Hazel Hankins Hallinan and her husband Charles Hallinan are laid to rest at Mount View Cemetery in Billings.
