The Question Box

Who is the woman in the photo?

That is my grandmother Ethel on my mother's side.
Ethel was a professional artist in New York.
She had a studio in Brooklyn.
But, she moved to Boston when my mom was a child.
Ethel used a man's surname to sell her paintings.
They sold faster with a man's name.(?)
Ethel did landscapes and portraits and sculptures in bronze,
porcelain, as well as interior design.
She divorced and remarried.
She divorced her first husband because he was too "flirtatious."
That's what my mom told me.
Unfortunately, Ethel liked to smoke Tiporellos and died from lung cancer.
She was forty years old.

Mom moved in with her grandmother Sarah in an apartment in Somerville.
Eventually, Mom became the sole income and worked at the Hershey factory in Somerville.
Mom took night high school courses to get her diploma.
She also painted landscapes and did interior design.
"Most people want an oil painting in their living room to feel posh." mom said.
She signed her paintings L Hilyard.
She had learned from Ethel not to sign her full female name Loraine.
The oil was thick and sometimes she'd use a putty knife.

Dad was mom's high school English teacher.
Sarah liked Dad because he had a house.
Mom was in love and thought the house was "Heavenly."
They got married before the war against NAZI Germany.
Mom converted to Catholicism to marry dad.
Mom told me Ethel was from France, Assance Loraine.
Ethel had named her after the French province.
Ethel left for America with her father in her teens.
Her mother had died from breast cancer.
Ethel was a Jewish girl and a patriotic American.
She said, "America is for everyone."

I think I'll put some Beatles on "Hey Jude."


Bob County