A very nice old woman in our building invited Barb and I to her art gallery a while back. We put it on our list and this past Saturday rode the motorcycle there. It was a nice, but odd, selection of art. But Virginia was extremely knowledgeable and nice as can be. The more we talked and listened, the more it became clear that Virginia was fairly famous in the NYC art and modeling world. She shared old news clippings of herself with famous artists of the times, and she was a beautiful young woman. She had that Marilyn Monroe look all dressed up.
As we talked more, she shared that her father was one of the first WWI Naval Air pilots flying amphibious planes out of Long Island, NY and then Pensacola, FL. POW. There it was! There were very few WWI pilots and most knew each other. Having just assembled a museum nomination for my grandfather (Fitzwilliam Dalrymple), I had a lot of information on this topic. We were both so excited to explore this topic more.
It makes me wonder how many people would have skipped the gallery invitation and never met such a fascinating lady and then made a family connection! Would you have?
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Follow Virginia
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
John,
I've certainly skipped invitations like the one you described, although not as frequently as when I was younger. I've found, as you describe in your post, that often-times, something serendipitous happens when we follow this "road less traveled." Sounds like a pitch from the late Charles Kuralt!
Was your grandfather's name really "Fitzwilliam Dalrymple" or was that his nomme de guerre?
Post a Comment