April in Newport

[Shelley Dziedzic]

A portrait doll of Barbara was created by a local dollmaker with the framed portrait of her at age 3 as a guide. The doll wears the heart locket like Barbara wore on Lusitania and still wears today. She was very excited with her "Little Barbara" and carried it all the way home Sunday in the car. The portrait of her mother was also presented Saturday night, and there were not many dry eyes when she exclaimed "My Dear Mother!"- this was a priceless memory.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

The little steamer trunk is filled with clothes for the doll. She is about 19 inches tall and has Barbara's blue eyes and coppery hair, high button shoes and pantaloons!

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Barbara still has her doll Eileen from 1918-named for her best friend she had to leave back in England. It was given her by her stepmom when Mauretania docked in NYC. Photos courtesy of Steve Chuck.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Barbara receiving her doll and portraits Saturday night. The webpage is beginning to fill up with faces you may recognize. More to come! http://www.revdma2.com/gildedage.html

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

This large mural of acrylic on canvas made its debut at THS in Wilmington Delaware- 1986 I think it was. It was given to the Marine Museum in Fall River and is now a popular site for group photos-the perspective is startling and one must really look twice to believe it is "trompe l'oeil"- it sure fooled my eye when I first saw it. There is a photo of many Titanic survivors in front of this done back in 1988. About 14 of us headed to Fall River on Sunday to see the Marine Museum and Titanic model. THS has removed its exhibit (about 2 years ago).

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

Thanks Shell for posting these great photos. I'm looking forward to finally meeting Barbara this summer - and you!

 

[Kyrila Scully]

I am so sorry I let circumstances keep me from coming to Newport. I know I missed a fabulous time and also missed out on making lots of lovely friends and meeting friends I've made here on ET. Thanks for sharing the photos with us. I'm starting to recover (I think!) and hope to join everyone at the next event.

Kyrila

 

[Dr. Douglas B. Willingham]

Shelley, great photo posts, and thanks for posting the Newport newspaper article, too. We made a bit of a splash, didn't we?

Randy, Mrs. McDermott is as gracious and sweet as she is youthful! You're going to love her when you meet her. We all did.

I don't know if Jack Eaton will see this, but I want to thank him publicly for the autographed copy of Voyage 37 which contains his excellent article, "Major Archibald W. Butt: A Life". This came out in the fall of 2001, before I was a member, so I had not seen it.

Jim, my mother had a great time with you at the gala. In regard to Estelline, the store was torn down long ago, but perhaps you have a picture of the site. As a child, my grandfather wrote his name in the fresh concrete of the sidewalk at the store. It's still there. I'd love to see your photos.

Regards,
Doug

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

The photo of Karl Behr was great to see at our call on the Tennis Hall of Fame.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Another highlight of the weekend was Bill Harrison's lecture on Newport Society families, scandals and Titanic connections. Bill will be writing some of the most colorful excerpts for VOYAGE in the coming months. Here Bill is shown chatting with Mrs. Carter's daughter, Betty Blake.