Our School

D.W. Gregory’s Radium Girls, the upcoming fall play produced by Holy Cross Student Theatre, is set to be performed on November 17 & 18. The talented group of performers, technicians, and designers at the school are putting in their utmost efforts to bring this captivating story to life on stage. For Alexsandra "Ali" Quinones-Estrada ’10, the plot of this true story hits close to home as her great-grandmother, Josephine Lamb, was a Radium Girl in the 1920s.

The play revolves around the dangerous effects of radium, a naturally occurring radioactive substance. In the past, radium was commonly used to paint dials on various devices such as clocks, watches, and aircraft navigation equipment due to its glowing properties in the dark. However, researchers have discovered that overexposure to radium can lead to severe health issues including leukemia, anemia, and various forms of cancer affecting bones, mouth, and sinus cavities. This production aims to shed light on the experiences and struggles faced by those who worked with this hazardous material.

Lamb, who died at age 70, was one of dozens of Waterbury women who died after working with radium for five years at the Waterbury Clock Company. She made $4.00 per week. Ali explained that, “(My grandmother) was told to lick the paint brushes to make perfect lines. There was no talk of it being harmful to her health.”

She went blind in her 20s and lost all of her teeth and sense of hearing. She was bedridden for five decades. Her bones became very brittle. She couldn’t roll over in bed without breaking something.

Ali would frequently hear stories from her grandfather, William Lamb. “He was always passionate about the Radium Girls. Since he was five years old, he took care of his mother.”

A former city police superintendent, Lamb tried for years to have something about the Radium Girls included in the Timexpo Museum, which chronicles the history of Waterbury Clock and its successor, Timex. When the museum opened, Ali and the rest of her family were shocked to see that there was no recognition for these women.

This lit a fire under Ali.

“I said that something needs to be done. My Holy Cross High School English Teacher, Kerry Heverling, told me to write a letter to the editor of the Waterbury-Republican American and to Timex. Week after week, I had blurbs in the newspaper. (Then-Mayor) Michael Jarjura wanted to meet with me and the city historian. It was decided to name a street in honor of the Radium Girls.”

Finally, in 2009, a permanent marker was placed on a city street, next to where the Waterbury Clock factory once stood, in memory of the Radium Girls. A section of Mill Street that connects Union Street with Baldwin Street will also be known as Radium Girl Memorial Way. “They had a beautiful ceremony,” said Ali, a faculty member at Rumsey Hall School. “My grandfather was able to be there and see his mother properly honored.”