What a woman

Meg Quiggle is outstanding, and she’s got the award to prove it. She was one of eight women recognized with a Maggie Award May 3—hers was in the category of Senior Woman—for being a strong female leader on the Chico State campus and in the community. The 83-year-old Quiggle was nominated by a sociology student, Summer Moore, and her professor, Cynthia Siemsen, after being interviewed by Moore for a living history project. Quiggle, it turns out, started Girl Scouts in Chico in the 1970s. She also was the first president of the Primetimers, a senior learning organization. Presented by the A.S. Women’s Center since 1994, the award is named after Maggie Pattison, who served many years as the Associated Students office manager.

What are your thoughts on winning a Maggie Award?

I didn’t really know much about it. But I remember Maggie as a wine docent over in the Bidwell Mansion. She was quite a person, and that’s how this all came about—in memory of her. I’d seen her do her work through the years. I was really honored. I think it’s a wonderful way for her memory to be preserved.

How were you nominated?

This came about through a sociology class. One of the students had been interviewing me for my life story. She and her professor, Cynthia Siemsen, decided that it would be nice to put me up for this award.

How did you get involved in Girl Scouts?

As I graduated from Stanford with my B.A., I didn’t know what I was going to do—what do you do with a B.A. in psychology? So I went to the dean of women, and she informed me that the regional office for Girl Scouts was then in Palo Alto. So I went and got an interview and became one of the first field workers—it sounds like a drone ant or something—in San Jose.

What was that like?

This was during the war, when we didn’t have any gas. Everything had to be done by bus. I don’t know why we wore spike heels, which I remember breaking leaping on and off these buses.

How did you get the Chico troop started?

I was involved professionally for some time and came back to Chico and found out we had only Campfire Girls. I met Alice Starmer and we put our heads together and decided we should start a troop in Chico.