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WJA debuts grant honoring Charlotte Preston
The Women’s Jewelry Association has announced a new “Gets It Done” member grant in honor of the late Charlotte Preston, who died in October of cancer.
New York--The Women’s Jewelry Association has announced a new member grant in honor of the late Charlotte Preston.
Preston died in October of cancer at the age of 62. News of the grant was given to Preston’s family at a Nov. 8 memorial service honoring her.
She was an ardent supporter of the WJA, most recently serving as president of the WJA Twin Cities Chapter. Preston also was a consultant to the jewelry industry for years through her business, St. Paul, Minn.-based Charlotte Preston Catalysts, which she had to close at the end of March after her cancer diagnosis.
Throughout her career, she provided the industry with education program planning and execution, small business management group facilitation for jewelers and individual coaching. Her clients included the JCK Shows, the American Gem Trade Association, and the Retail Jewelers Organization.
Preston received the national WJA Award for Excellence for Special Services in 2001 and the Shining Star Award from the Twin Cities chapter in 2011. The RJO also awarded her with the Board of Directors Award in September for her work planning its education programs, and the AGTA gave her its Leon Ritzler Honorary Member Award.
She is survived by her wife, Mary Kurth; their son, Jake Kurth and his wife Emma; her sister, Sharon Stapleton and her husband Roy Van; as well as nieces and nephews.
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