Celebrating the contributions business women have made on Lopez Island

Published by the Islands’ Weekly

By Cali BagbyWeekly / Journal editor

The Lopez Coffee Shop opened its doors on Friday, Oct. 2 with the sounds of foaming milk and the chit chat of locals and tourists alike.

Owners Bridie Spreine and Theresa Lynch hope to not only serve delicious beverages but give people a warm place to hang out.

“We’re hoping that it will build community and that people will come in and feel comfortable,” said Lynch. “And that other businesses in the area will feel welcome and have a consistent good cup of coffee.”

If you drop into the shop you will find they are serv-ing Lopez Island Coffee Roasters Organic Espresso roasted on island.

The shop was previously called La Boheme under the ownership of Robert Herrmann.

When Herrmann initially opened the shop Spreine worked for him.

“Working for Robert ... Every interaction was so delightful,” said Spreine. “When he decided to sell in 2015 and asked if I wanted

the shop I said, ‘Yeah, that’s what I want.’”

Robert taught Spreine that every person, custom-er, vendor, friend or family is an individual.

“On Lopez if you’re will-ing to have a conversation that will challenge your beliefs, it strengthens you as a person,” said Spreine. “The coffee shop has done that for me over and over again.”

In addition to working for Herrmann, years of work-ing in customer service has helped Spreine learn a few tricks of the trade, includ-ing the knowledge that she “identifies more with cus-tomers than employees.”

She takes this friendli-ness in addition to the same philosophy Herrmann had. Spreine and Lynch want-ed to take his shop and seamlessly transition into their own place. They said besides a new name and maybe new paint, there will be few changes.

“Robert had the same vision. He was very wel-coming and pleasant,” said Lynch. “And there was always a sense of comrad-ery with the people here and a good feel to it, which

is what we want to do.”Spreine describes her

business partner as very strong, logical and a good troubleshooter.

Lynch describes Spreine as creative, fair and full of wonderful ideas.

She said they are a good fit and balance each other out because they are both dreamers but have the abil-ity to slow down and think things out.

“The coffee shop has been Bridie’s dream for five years. She has been dream-ing, eating and breathing how to make it a reality,” said Lynch.

For Spreine, the dream could not come true without the support of the island.

“The community support has been amazing and hav-ing the kindness of Robert and Ron in the transition has been amazing,” said Spreine. “Even people who don’t drink coffee stick their heads in and say welcome to the community. “

And like other family-owned business on the island you can see Spreine’s three kids at the coffee

shop too. They are just as involved in process, often asking if they should talk to

the customers or work on coloring books.

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When community and coffee meet

The Islands’ Weekly • Women in Business • www.islandsweekly.com • October 20, 2015 – Page 2

by Colleen S. ArmstrongPublisher

Their footsteps echo in the corridors of history, but we rarely hear them. As a young woman living in the 21st cen-tury, I don’t often think about the sacrifices of those who came before me.

I take it for granted that I can vote, achieve my goals,

survive on my own income, choose whether or not to start a family. I can dress how I please, I can voice my opinion, I can file for divorce. And on the isolated occasion that I do feel discriminated against because of my gen-der, I brush it off because it has no relevance. There will always be ignorant people in this world. It is my choice to

internalize it or move on to something else.

But when I pause to really consider history, I feel an ear-nest and intense kinship with the women who pioneered my rights decades ago. They took the real risks. They were strong in the face of challenging deep social tradi-tions. And the shocking part – and this is true for Civil Rights as well – is that it wasn’t very long ago that our cultural fabric was based on severe restrictions to human rights.

As we salute our modern business women in this spe-cial section, we also pay trib-ute to those who laid the way for our success. What follows is a timeline of notable events in the history of women, courtesy of Encyclopedia Brittanica.

1800The U.S. logs the highest

birth rate worldwide, 7.04 children per woman.

1833Oberlin Collegiate Institute

(later Oberlin College) is founded in Ohio as the first American college to admit men and women on an equal basis.

1893Largely through the efforts

of suffragist Kate Sheppard, New Zealand becomes the first country to grant women the right to vote.

1900British tennis player

Charlotte Cooper wins the first women’s gold medal at the Olympics.

1904In French law, women are

Celebrate Women’s History

Staff photo/ Cali Bagby

The entrance of the Lopez Coffee Shop located next to Chimera and Holly B’s Bakery.

Open 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily

211 Lopez Road | 468-3533

WE WILL BE OPEN HALLOWEEN FOR TRUNK OR TREAT

COME AND SEE US!

SEE HISTORY, PAGE 3

The Islands’ Weekly • Women in Business • www.islandsweekly.com • October 20, 2015 – Page 3

By Cali BagbyWeekly / Journal editor

Marge McCoy, pharmacist, business owner, mother and wife, said her number one belief at work is that the staff at the pharmacy put the patient first.

“We are there to advocate for the patient and not to be bullied by insurance companies or pharmaceutical estab-lishments,” she said. “We are the voice the patient needs.”

She said a lot goes on behind the scenes for patients from prescription interaction research to contacting doc-tors. She calls her current crew stupendous. That crew includes her daughter Megan, who has essentially worked at the pharmacy her entire life.

“I didn’t go to preschool I went to the pharmacy,” said Megan, who is now a technician.

Marge’s son, Evan not only worked at the pharmacy but his life has impacted how his mother dealt with custom-ers. Her interaction with customers facing medical needs changed when their son was born with critical lung issues. Marge told her son as he grew up, “I know it doesn’t help, but all the things I learned have helped with other people.”

In addition to her children, Marge credits her husband with success with the business. Marge and Rick McCoy met in pharmacy school and started working together in 1978. While living in Denver they owned two pharmacies. They will celebrate their 40th anniversary in May. Marge said because of how much time she has spent with Rick between work and home that they have actually been together for 100 years.

“He is truly my partner,” said Marge. “I wouldn’t be doing this without him.”

Her other love is interacting with the community.Marge said some people come in just to talk or for a hug.

She added that human interaction, among other things, is what is missed if you send out for your medications online – a tendency that is becoming more common in the digital age. Several years ago a workman came in with dust in his eyes looking for an eyewash. As he talked to Marge about his symptoms, she began to think he may have another issue and sent him to the medical center. It turns out that he was having a stroke.

Kimberly Lystrup, pharmacy assistant, has worked with the McCoys for two and a half years and has been inspired by their work ethic.

“Rick and Marge make me feel like I don’t even work for them because they are busy working so hard for the com-munity it feels like we are all working for someone else,” said Lystrup.

As far as how times have changed for women in business, Marge said it used to be common for people to assume she worked in the cosmetics department.

“But those times have passed,” said Marge.Now the pharmacy workforce is primarily female with

four women and one man – Rick.

“The women keep this place organized. They run a tight ship,” said Lystrup.

The women at the pharmacy say that they not only work well together, but learn great amounts from Marge.

“She is an amazing teacher and role model with a huge amount of knowledge. You learn something very day,” said Kaylee Steinbruck, who has been a pharmacy technician for five and half years.

Lopez Pharmacy – a voice for everyone

no longer permanent minors.1908A group of women storm

the British Parliament demanding suffrage. Twenty-four of them are arrested.

1909In New York, shirtwaist

factory workers go on strike. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and the Women’s Trade Union League work together in support of the strike.

1911Marie Curie is awarded

the Nobel Prize for chemis-try for the isolation of pure radium.

1912Juliette Gordon Low

founds the Girl Guides (later Girl Scouts) in the United States. By 1927 there will be a troop in every state.

1913Norwegian women win

the right to vote. In 1915, Danish women win the right to vote.

1914In Russia, Princess

Eugenie Shakhovskaya is the first female military pilot.

She flies reconnaissance mis-sions.

1917The United States Navy

hires 12,000 women as clerks in the same job classifications and for the same pay as men.

This is so that it can send men overseas.

1918Canadian and British

women are granted the right to vote, although in Great Britain a woman must be over age 30.

The U.S. government reports that 1.4 million women work in war indus-tries. After World War I these women are forced out of industrial work.

1920

The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is signed into law, giving women the right to vote.

Despite death threats from the Ku Klux Klan, Mary McLeod Bethune begins a voter registration drive for African American women.

The University of Oxford

admits its first full-degree female students.

1945More than six million

American women who entered the workforce dur-ing World War II are pushed

Remember to get your flu shot

Lopez Island Pharmacy

Open Monday – Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Closed 12:30 – 1:15 for Lunch Closed Saturdays & Sundays

(360) 468-2616, Fax (360) 468-3825

Staff photo/ Cali Bagby

From left to right: Megan McCoy, Marge McCoy, Kaylee Steinbruck and Kimberly Lystrup of Lopez Pharmacy.

HISTORYCONTINUED FROM 2

SEE HISTORY, PAGE 4

Michele Smith has 35-plus years of small business experienceAfter running Tanbark Marine in Friday Harbor she now manages

Spencer’s Landing Marina and operates Tanbark out of LopezCo-workers say her organization and attention to detail

are what make her a successIf you stop by Spencers to see Michele you’ll be greeted by

her two friendly dogs August and Shelbyher two friendly dogs August and Shelby

(360) 468-4391 • Lopez Island

by Colleen Smith ArmstrongPublisher

The National Women’s History Museum cre-ated an online exhibit entitled “Women with a Deadline: Female Printers, Publishers, and Journalists from the Colonial Period to World War I.”

The following highlights excerpts from the exhibit, which can be found at www.nwhm.org. Some of the information was also taken from the New York State Library (www.nysl.nysed.gov/).

Women have been inte-gral to the development of printing and journalism in North America since the earliest settlers landed in the New World.

Less than two hun-dred years after Johannes Gutenberg’s 1450 introduc-tion of the printing press, Elizabeth Glover crossed the Atlantic, bringing the first press to be operated in the British colonies. In the 1700s, women edited 16 of the 78 small, family-owned weekly newspapers circulat-ing throughout the British

colonies. Women worked as publishers, printers, typesetters, journalists and carved wooden engravings for illustration.

In 1738, following the death of her publisher hus-band, Elizabeth Timothy became the first female newspaper publisher and editor in America. She oper-ated the “South Carolina Gazette” in partnership with Benjamin Franklin, who had owned that press. Female journalists were among the first to record, comment on, and publicize the events leading up to the Revolutionary War.

At the beginning of the 19th century, women were encouraged to submit their writing from home and to use pseudonyms. Nevertheless, determined women sought a place in this traditional male domain beyond the society pages of newspapers. The Civil War

opened many new opportu-nities to women, including jobs in mainstream journal-ism. By 1879, women com-prised 12 percent of the journalists credentialed for admittance to the press gal-leries in the United States Capitol.

In the early 20th century, newspaper tycoons Hearst and Pulitzer understood that many new readers of their penny papers were

young female factory work-ers or domestic servants, and the two publishing mag-nates hired women to write for their papers.

In 1937, Anne O’Hare McCormick was the first woman in “New York Times” history to sit on the editorial board. In 1958, Judith Crist was named drama critic of the “New York Herald Tribune,” the first woman to hold such

a title for a major daily. In the early 1960s, she became editor of the arts and editor film critic. Mary McGrory first joined the staff of the “Washington Star” in 1947 as a book reviewer. In 1975 she became the first woman to win a Pulitzer for commentary for her series of columns about the Watergate scandal.

Women making a splash in the news

out of their traditionally male jobs at the war’s end.

1975The U.S. Supreme Court

rules that women cannot be excluded from juries because of their sex.

1986The U.S. Supreme Court

upholds affirmative action on the basis of race or gender.

2002Britain’s Queen Elizabeth

II celebrates her Golden Jubilee, marking 50 years on the throne.

Womenof the Weekly

HISTORYCONTINUED FROM 7

Thank you to the many women in business who make our

community special!