Maud Gill Hall Gassaway Waite

Birth: October, 1876 California
Death: November 7, 1930 Reno, Nevada

Role in Women’s Suffrage: Officer in the Washoe County Equal Suffrage league, 1914; Member of 19th Amendment ratification committee which represented the National American Women’s Suffrage Association, 1920

HerStory: Maud was born in California to William and Eva Mary Gill. By June of 1900, Maud was a dressmaker in Wadsworth, Nevada. After a short marriage to Dr. H.E. Hall in 1905, Maud, again took up the profession of dressmaking, owning several millinery/dressmaking shops in Reno. In May of 1909 she married Dick L. Gassaway.

Maud’s interest in suffrage and civic activities was extensive. She was chairman of the Press and Work Committee for the Nevada Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1914 and a NFWC director in 1919. In addition, in 1917 she was chairman of the Lincoln Highway Committee, headed the Women’s Citizen’s Club, and was a representative of the 1925 International Council of Women.

Maud, who married a third time in 1928, continued her club work with the NFWC, as well as the Twentieth Century Club, Arts and Crafts Club and the Pythian Sisters. One of her last events was in1930. She organized a luncheon to honor the pioneer women who had worked for suffrage for the 20th Century Club.

Maud now rests at Mountain View Cemetery in Reno.

Researched and written by the Nevada Women’s History Project for the Nevada Commission for Women, 2020