Aunt Gladys

My grandmother was named for her father's younger sister, Aunt Gladys. In 1972, my grandparents visited my family and a plan was hatched to visit Aunt Gladys. We piled into my grandfather's Lincoln and were off to visit Aunt Gladys in Florida. I remember visiting a very old woman who was too sick to get out of bed. The mosquitoes in the everglades, the rides at Disney World, and the Spanish fort at Saint Augustine.

Recently, I decided to see what I could find out about Aunt Gladys. First, I found out she was married to a cover artist for magazines  - she was his model for some covers. Paintings of her are kept in art galleries. And she was a pin up girl during the teens and twenties. I discovered she was an actress - she appeared in plays on Broadway, and Silent films. Her mother was also on Broadway. Who knew?

She has connected me socially to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. For example, I am separated from the Civil War by two degrees because I met her - her father was a Civil War veteran. There are only two degrees to Rudyard Kipling - she appeared in a play he wrote. What else will I find looking at old newspapers from New York?

Cheers!