From Jone Johnson Lewis,
Your Guide to Women's History.
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Here's a list of some of the notable women whose lives ended in 2003 -- famous and not so famous, with links to biographies and obituaries.

December

• Isabelle Stevenson - president of the American Theater Wing for over 30 years.
• Mary Jean Tully - feminist activist, 1970s women's movement leader
• Elizabeth Bates - researcher on the development of language in children.

October

• Madame Chiang - political force in Chinese politics, widow of Chinese leader.
• Carolyn Heilbrun - feminist scholar and mystery writer.
• Louise Day Hicks - opposed busing for school integration in Boston - a City Council member and school official.
• Margaret Murie ("Mardy") - writer who worked to create the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

September

• Althea Gibson - tennis champion, first African American title winner at Wimbledon.
• Leni Riefenstahl - film director.
• Anna Lindh - Swedish foreign minister.

August

• Lady Diana Mosley - British fascist, sister of Jessica and Nancy Mitford.

July

• Jane Barbe - you know her voice though you probably didn't know her name: recordings of her voice were used by many phone companies and voice mail systems.
• Carol Shields - Canadian feminist writer.

June

• Katharine Hepburn - actress whose roles often depicted independent and strong women.
• Natalya Reshetovskaya - chemist, married to Aleksandr I Solzhenitsyn.
• Shirley B Stamps - as a child, she was at the center of a landmark 1954 desegregation case.

May

• June Carter Cash - country music singer.

April

• Karen Morley - movie star whose career was sidelined by the 1947 Congressional hunt for suspected communists in the film industry.
• Nina Simone - jazz songwriter and musician, civil rights activist.
• Martha Griffiths - Michigan Congresswoman and activist for women's rights.
• Margaret Formby - founder of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.
• Anita Borg - pioneer computer scientist.

February

• Amy Bess Miller - a founder of the Hancock Shaker Village and Museum in Hancock, Massachusetts.
• Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Salton Clark ( pictures ) - Columbia Space Shuttle astronauts.
• Annemarie Schimmel, writer and expert on Islam.
• Bobbi Evelyn Trout, early record-setting aviator.

January

• Doris Fisher, songwriter, including for Ella Fitzgerald.
• Vivi-Anne Hulten, Swedish figure skating champion.
• Nell Carter, star on television and musical "Ain't Misbehavin'."
• Gertrude Janeway, last recognized widow of a Union Civil War veteran.