She started out in a church and ended up in Hitchcock, which is one hell of a left turn for a minister’s kid from New Ulm, Minnesota. Kathryn Elizabeth Hohn, born July 15, 1920. Her father was a Methodist minister, Dr. Chris G. Hohn, the kind of man who probably smelled like coffee, paper, and … Read More “Kathryn Elizabeth Hohn” »
She came in with two names and two towns. Elta Danneel Graul, born in Lafayette, Louisiana, raised in Eunice—a place that sounds like a distant relative and feels like a cul-de-sac at the end of the earth. Her father looked into people’s eyes for a living, an ophthalmologist with steady hands and charts on the … Read More “Elta Danneel Graul” »
She came out of Detroit in ’62, not with a silver spoon but with a couple of passports in her blood: Lebanese from her father, Dominican from her mother, and Michigan salt on top of it all. A girl named Rose Marie Abdoo, which already sounds like a joke the universe tells itself—beautiful, complicated, and … Read More “Rose Marie Abdoo” »
She came in small. Brooklyn-born, Detroit-raised, five years old and already being moved like a chess piece: Mom, Dad, big brother, a new city, a new parish, a new school where the ceilings leaked and the nuns could probably smell doubt. Her name meant “the highest, the most exalted one,” which is the kind of … Read More “Aaliyah” »
Joey Lauren Adams was born in North Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1968, which already sounds like a bad country song if you say it slow enough. Her dad, Lyle, owned a lumber yard. Her mom, Karen, took the kids to Park Hill Baptist Church, where they sang about heaven while the parking lot baked under … Read More “Joey Lauren Adams” »
Beverly Adams came into the world in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1945, a Catholic girl born in the kind of cold that makes you dream about other places. Canada: snow, silence, and people who apologize for breathing too loud. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Adams, probably figured they’d raise a nice normal daughter who’d marry … Read More “Beverly Adams” »
Bettye Louise Ackerman came in on a winter day in 1924, somewhere between pine trees and dirt roads, South Carolina, the kind of place where nothing big is supposed to happen except heat, work, and Sunday service. Cottageville, they say. Or maybe Williston. The records argue; the dust doesn’t care. Her old man was Clarence … Read More “Bettye Louise Ackerman” »
Whitney Nees Able came in with the Texas heat, June 2, 1982, Houston born, where the air sticks to your skin and the freeways never sleep. Oil money, strip malls, big churches, and that flat, long horizon that makes you think about getting the hell out. She had two brothers, which means she probably learned … Read More “Whitney Nees Able” »
Dorothy Abbott came in on a December day in 1920, Kansas City, Missouri, the kind of place that smells like train smoke and second chances other people get. She wasn’t born under the Hollywood sign. She had to chase it. That’s always worse. The ones born next to the dream at least know it stinks … Read More “Dorothy Abbott” »
Beverly Elaine Aadland came into the world in Hollywood, California, in 1942, like a punchline the town hadn’t written yet. The sign was up on the hill, the studios were busy cranking out dreams and nervous breakdowns, and down below a baby girl showed up who’d spend the rest of her life getting dragged along … Read More “Beverly Elaine Aadland” »