Lucia Cormier '32 Mother Xavier Award 1974        Lucia majored in French; she also received an M.A. in Languages from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1940. She was the head of the Modern Languages Department of Stephens High School, in Rumford, Maine, for fourteen years. She also owned and operated a stationery store in Rumford for fourteen years. Entering politics, she won election to six two-year terms in the Maine State House of Representatives. She became the first woman to serve as Floor Leader for her party, and she served one term as House Minority Leader. Time referred to her as the "mother superior" of Maine's Democratic Party; Time also lauded her for having "proved in the rough-and-tumble school of state politics that she could outshine the men around her." In 1960 Lucia was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate; however, she lost to incumbent Senator Margaret Chase Smith. President John Kennedy appointed Lucia District Director of U.S. Customs for Maine and New Hampshire, a post she held until August 1974. Lucia also was a trustee of the University of Maine and a member of the Advisory Board of St. Joseph's College. Additionally, Lucia was a member of her diocesan Board of Education from 1968-72. In 1972, she received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal. Lucia received the Mother Xavier Award in 1974. She died on January 26, 1993. Gleason, Sister Mary Ellen, S.C., Joyce, Sister Ellen, S.C., and Sirgiovanni, George. Lives of Achievement and Service: Biographical Statements of Distinguished College of Saint Elizabeth Alumnae. Morristown, New Jersey: College of Saint Elizabeth 1999.