Edith Nash
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (March 2014) |
Edith Nash | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 12, 1913 |
| Died | November 9, 2003 (aged 90) |
Edith Nash (July 12, 1913 – November 9, 2003) was an American educator and poet. She served as the second director of the Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C., from 1961-1975. She and her husband Philleo Nash, who served as a political appointee in several Democratic presidential administrations, lived most of their lives in Wisconsin. She published several collections of poetry, and her work has been included in anthologies.
Early life
Edith Rosenfels met her future husband Philleo Nash while in college at the University of Chicago. He roomed for a time with her older brother Paul and was getting his PhD in anthropology. On November 2, 1935, they married. Edith Nash, also trained as an anthropologist, did field work in the American West in the 1930s among Native Americans. Their children were daughters Maggie and Sally.[1][2]
Years in Washington, DC
After the Nashes moved to Washington, D.C., in 1942 when Philleo gained a position in the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, Edith Nash became the second director and co-founder of the Georgetown Day School, the first racially integrated school in the capital. She served there from 1961 to 1975.[3] After they left Washington, the Nashes settled in Philleo's home town of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. They returned to Washington in the early 1960s, when Philleo served as Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He always said was the best job he ever had.[2] After her husband's death in 1990, she managed their family Biron, Wisconsin, cranberry marsh and processing business mostly from there.[1] They had also often stayed at their cottage in Biron. She became active in local and state politics, and was an early supporter of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat.[3]
Literary career
Edith Nash also wrote poetry and critical essays. Practice: The Here and Now (Cross+Roads Press, 2001), her best-known book, includes a sample of her poetry and prose. Included in it are poems about her 1930s "coming out" party at a Chicago speakeasy, meeting "Ernie" Hemingway through his younger sister in 1929 at their parents' house, and progressive causes she had championed.[3] Her life was celebrated in the poem "When You're Eighty-Five," written by her friend Mark Scarborough and published in the summer 2001 issue of the Wisconsin Academy Review.[3] Among Nash's other writer friends were Muriel Rukeyser and Frances Hamerstrom. Nash, an inspiration for generations of writers in central Wisconsin, also was a tireless advocate of free expression during her tenure as a member of a book review committee of the Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools. She founded the Riverwood Roundtable, a writing group and literary society. Elisa Derickson was a student member of the Roundtable. In 1994, after winning a Seventeen magazine award and scholarship, Nash assisted Derickson in setting up the Elisa Derickson Fund for Writing through the newly formed South Wood County Community Foundation, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Nash contributed money from the Roundtable and other fund raising to this fund.[3] Edith Nash's other volumes of poetry include White Line on the Left (Round Robin Press, no date, but circa 1990), The Words (Home Brew Press, 1992), Now is the Time (Round Robin Press, 1996), and A Christmas Offering: Selected Poems, 1985–2000 (privately printed, 2000). Her poetry has been included in the anthologies, The Poetry of Cold (Home Brew Press, 1997), and At the Heart of Riverwood (Round Robin Press, 2000).[3] Her poems and essays were published in magazines as Free Verse, Wisconsin Poet's Calendar, and Wisconsin River Valley Journal.[3] Edith Nash died in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednashinterview - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Edith Nash, "Some Reminiscences about Paul", Ninth Street Journal, Vol. 7, Winter 1987, accessed 17 March 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Norbert Blei (1935-2013) "Edith Nash", Poetry Dispatch & Other Notes from Underground, online journal and website
- Edith Nash, Practice the Here and Now: Selected Writings of Edith Nash, 2001, Digital Library, University of Wisconsin
- Edith Nash, Practice the Here and Now: Supplement to the Selected Writings of Edith Nash, 2004, Digital Library, University of Wisconsin
External links
- Edith Nash, "Some Reminiscences About Paul", The Ninth Street Journal, Vol. 7 [Winter 1987] (published 1873-1987)
- Edith Nash, "Marriage" (from Practice: The Here and Now, 2001), Poetry Dispatch No. 56, 14 February 2006