Syracuse, N.Y. -- Chuckie Holstein remembers a time when she was often the only woman in a room of male decision makers.
“For years, I used to be the token woman on a board, or the token woman here or there,” said Holstein, 98.
Most know her today as the co-founder and former executive director of FOCUS Greater Syracuse.
Holstein started her career as a teacher, and went on to create many civic groups that still thrive today (like Leadership Greater Syracuse and Meals on Wheels). She worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life in CNY.
But early on, even her own awards would be in her husband’s name. The Post-Standard twice named her a Woman of Achievement, as “Mrs. Alexander E. Holstein Jr.”
It bothered her, but Holstein didn’t want to correct anyone. Her husband Alex spoke up.
“He called every charitable organization and asked them to please change all communications to us, with my name,” she smiled. “Sometimes you need a partner.”
Alex died in 2021. He was 96.
Holstein was the youngest of six children. Her first name is Charlotte, but everybody calls her Chuckie. Her parents, Morris and Esther Garelick, immigrated from Russia.
“They had to escape the terrible things the czars were doing to the Jewish people,” said Holstein.
“My parents always said to us, ‘You’re here in a free country. You can believe in whatever religion you want. You can be whoever you wanna be. We want all our children to be college graduates (although they had very little money), and we want all our children to give back to society.’”
So Holstein prioritized service throughout her life. She served on dozens of boards, working toward solutions in education, the arts, elder care, neighborhood development, health care and more.
She traveled the world as a delegate representing local organizations, or the United States, or women at international conferences. She spoke to global audiences about preventing rape as a weapon of war.
Her home is full of awards she won for community service, leadership and career achievement.
But she encountered sexism at every level, from local boards to the highest level of U.S. government.
Holstein remembers being invited to the White House Conference on Families in the 1980s, an initiative of the Jimmy Carter administration. The goal was to examine ways that public policy could help strengthen families.
At the conference, guests received booklets titled “Wife -- 90% of the Fault?” Holstein kept it.
“Submission to everything,” Holstein read from the pamphlet, shaking her head. “Women are be supposed to be submissive. There’s a whole chapter on it.”
Those experiences shaped Holstein’s work to lift women up at every stage of their lives. She watched women’s roles change drastically in her lifetime, particularly in Syracuse business, politics and nonprofits. But the work, she says, is far from done.
The following is a portion of our interview with Chuckie Holstein, edited and condensed for clarity.
Have we reached a point where women are regarded as equal to men?
When you start seeing more women in politics on a local level, on a national level, on an international level, I’ll say yes.
What will help more women break into politics, or into leadership in industries where they’re underrepresented?
I think this has improved, but I didn’t see a lot of women turning around and pulling her sisters up along behind her.
Not one, but dozens of them. That’s where I think we’re not doing our job yet, as women. I kept pushing for more volunteerism, more opportunities, more jobs among women.
Seems simple. Hire more women.
Well, we should be helping women in all phases of life. That’s where child care becomes an issue.
Child care has to be shared. I give a lot of credit to the men in my generation who changed the diapers and pushed the strollers and cooked the meals. I thought that was wonderful.
Mothers who stay home with their children should be paid for it by government. And if the father decides to be the child care person, they should get paid for it. They did that in England for a time...and in other countries. I thought it was a great idea.
What was it like when you first served on boards with only men or mostly men?
There were moments I had to swallow and let pass, because I was waiting for the more important moment when I could say something that would make a difference.
I think the men catered to me, which was very nice. I was able to speak my truth when I needed to.
Frankly, I think a lot of women are better educated and better managers, in some respects, to men with the same education and the same environment.
I know we’re getting more women educated. I think that’s a big piece of women being able to take their roles on an equal basis with men.
How did your education open doors for you?
We had to find a way to go to college at [SUNY] Brockport. At the teachers’ college, there was no tuition, but you had buy your own books. There was very little money in our household, so I borrowed all my textbooks from the library, which meant no notes in the margins, no underlining. I had to copy all my notes to new paper.
That was a tough way to learn but a good way to learn. That’s still how I take notes today.
How did you put yourself through school?
I hitchhiked. School was 20 miles away from Rochester. I took the Greyhound Bus when I had the money. But most times I hitchhiked. I had one scary incident.
Can you tell me about it?
Yeah, a farmer picked me up and he started putting his hand on my leg. I said I wanted to get out in Spencerport and it was the middle of the night.
Spencerport is about 15 miles from Rochester. I got out shaking. There was a car behind us. The person in that car kind of knew what was going on, and took me home.
That is terrifying.
It was terrifying. I was probably 20.
You’re now regarded as one of the best civic leaders in Syracuse history. What qualities do people need to be good leaders?
Inclusiveness. Making sure no one is left out.
Leading, without people feeling like you’re leading, because you’re listening to everybody’s ideas to work together. I like to hear what people value. It may not be the same values I’ve thought of for myself, but I learned some new values and, and I think that’s important.
We have a lot of things we need to work on. I do think diversity is one of the biggest [issues]. I can’t bear the thought of people being put down because of their gender or heritage. Everybody is human and everybody is the same inside and outside.
So much of your career has been devoted to improving the quality of life in Syracuse, from installing the ice skating rink to creating Meals on Wheels...
These were the things the people wanted. The citizens wanted people to do it. There’s still a lot that hasn’t been done.
What hasn’t been done that you want to see?
The Onondaga Lake project. I’d like to see that lake come alive.
Onondaga Lake has a long history of being polluted water. It’s becoming less polluted. I can’t say that it’s drinkable. It is swimmable in some parts of the lake.
Onondaga Lake is the sacred lake to the Haudenosaunee. That whole park area could have a wonderful science and research center and a Native American museum of the five tribes.
There’s been a lot of scientific research by Honeywell, by SUNY ESF, by the county executive, by the Native Americans, the Onondaga in particular. All that science will be lost over the years unless we protect it and move into the future with it.
History tells me that when the Constitution of the United States was being written, they conferred with the Indians and how they made peace at Onondaga Lake. So I see that as a center of democracy.
We should be teaching that here. Science, environment, Native American history and democracy. Put them all together and have a wonderful research museum, a science and history center on Onondaga Lake.
Plus the swimming, of course.
What do you hope your legacy will be?
I want everybody to be a citizen trustee. It can be done in so many different ways.
I mean, it doesn’t have to be done by putting an environmental center on Onondaga Lake.
It can be done by bringing chicken soup to your neighbor. It’s putting yourself in another person’s shoes, trying to help others... not being so internalized that you can’t think of others, or the next generation.
And the generation after that. It doesn’t have to be your grandkids. It’s everybody’s grandkids.
The Hebrew expression is L’dor va’dor, meaning “from generation to generation.” They don’t put an ending to it. You just gotta keep going.
Every one of us has the responsibility to maintain our community and make it even better for the future.
Better than we found it.
Katrina Tulloch shoots videos and writes stories about interesting people for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact her: Email | Twitter | Facebook
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