Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/11/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Truly a tragedy! I guess the truism is true after all, one can't have their professional life in order if their personal life is in disorder. Slobodan Dimitrov bdcolen wrote: > > Obituaries in the News > > By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS > > Filed at 7:50 a.m. ET > > ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Marion Carpenter, one of the first female White > House photographers who traveled with President Harry Truman and covered > him daily, has died. Though Carpenter broke ground in her profession, > she died alone and destitute at age 82. > > Her body was found late last month on her couch, bundled up tightly > against the chill because the thermostat had been lowered to save money. > > The body, found Oct. 29, is still with the medical examiner while > friends -- > most of whom met Carpenter at garage sales or thrift shops -- try to > track down her only child, a son whom she had not seen in more than 30 > years. > > ``She sounds like the type of woman upon whose shoulders we all stand,'' > said Susy Shultz, president of the Journalism and Women Symposium. > ``It's sad that we don't know about a Marion Carpenter. The women who > came along in the '30s, '40s and '50s had it the hardest. They were the > women breaking paths.'' > > In the 1940s, Carpenter was one of the first women in the White House > News Photographers' Association. She was the only woman among a handful > of photographers who traveled with Truman. > > In her belongings when she died were photos she took of Truman, which > the president inscribed to ``Miss Carpenter.'' > > One of those photos, which showed Truman striding uphill toward the > Washington Monument, bears the message: ``It's good exercise if you keep > it up, but not for high-heeled shoes, Miss Carpenter.'' > > According to what she told her friends late in life, a love affair with > a married man may have helped end her career prematurely. > > Carpenter's marriage to a Navy officer who abused her ended in divorce. > In Washington, she fell in love with a Capitol journalist. When the > affair ended, Carpenter married again. Her new husband, a radio > announcer, took her to Denver, where she had a son. By late 1951, the > marriage -- and her career -- were over. She was 31. > > Back in St. Paul, Carpenter ran a wedding photo business and worked as a > nurse to support her mother and child. > > Her son, Mjohn Anderson, ran afoul of juvenile authorities and left home > at 19. According to friends, Carpenter never saw him again. He would be > 52 now. > > ``She was sensitive, and kind, with an overflowing heart,'' said a > friend, Beverly Allstopp. ``But that heart covered up a lot of > bitterness ... She had a heartache, and I think it caused her to be a > recluse. > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html