Cool people I don't know: Rosemary Ferrie
A couple of years ago when down in California we went to The Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial. It's a beautiful memorial, and I could have spent ages looking at all the plaques (handsome fighter pilots, cute nurses). You can see my post featuring some photos here.
One plaque in particular never left my mind though, and that was honoring Parmely T. Ferrie and Rosemary (Egan) Ferrie. He was a captain and she a nurse, and besides being adorable, Rosemary wore a wedding gown made from the parachute Parmely used to bail out of a B-24 bomber.
That right there made me incredibly curious as to what her dress looked like, and what kind of life she led.
Today she popped into my mind again, and I googled her name, only to find her obituary. First I was sad to learn of her passing, but then I clicked on the photo album, and photos of her in her parachute wedding dress popped up.
So although I'm sorry she's gone, even though I've never met her, I'm glad that she seemed to live a nice life with Parmely and now I can share her wedding dress with you, for those who were as curious as I!
They married on July 27th 1946, and had six children. She got her AA degree in San Diego, traveled extensively with her husband, and spent most of her nursing career helping alcoholics and drug addicts. Yep, this lady sounds like someone anyone would have liked to have known.
All photos and information from here
17 comments:
I love hearing stories like this, and thanks for sharing!
I saw a parachute wedding gown when I was in Idaho visiting the Warhawk Air Museum. http://atomicredhead.com/warhawk-air-museum/
So amazing!
Thank you for sharing this.
What a wonderful story! And the dress is beautiful.
Thanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife
What an amazing story! Thank you so much for sharing. The dress looks wonderful.
Margaux
I love this post! This is so inspiring. I want to go find cool people I don't know too!!!
the wedding dress out of a parachute is just *too cool*. I would totally do something like that!
Great story!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing :)
xx Charlotte
Tuppence Ha'penny
What an inspiring story and life this lady lead! Thank you so much for sharing her with us.
I still cannot get over how that elegant dress was made from a parachute! Blows my mind. So amazing!
Wow. I love reading about women who led such full lives as she seemed to. Not to mention making a wedding dress out of repurposed materials--parachute wedding gowns always fascinate me! :)
A really interesting post! Have you ever done any of your own geneology to find out who *your* ancestors are? It's super interesting and gives you a better perspective on who you.
gorgeous photos !!
Lovely story, thanks for sharing. I love her wedding headdress too
Just stumbled upon this and thought of your post. It's nice to be able to see a parachute dress in such detail.
http://newsdesk.si.edu/snapshot/parachute-wedding-dress
Parmely looked very much like his brother, David W. Ferrie, who was investigated by Jim Garrison. According to Judyth Vary Baker, in her book Me and Lee, Ferrie and Lee Harvey Oswald were close friends in New Orleans in 1963.
Glad you liked Mom's dress. I was lucky enough to wear it at my wedding too. There wasn't a dry eye in the church when our Minister told "The Great Parachute Story." Mom and Dad were wonderful parents, we were all very blessed to have them. There was always laughing and singing in our house and everyone was welcome. Dad just passed away on New Year's Eve. We miss them both very much.
That woman was my Great-Grandmother, and my youngest sister Katherine Rose is named after her. She was a wonderful woman and everyone in our enormous family loved her. She offered to give me her wedding dress (I don't intend to use it, one of my cousins can.) We all miss her very much, but she is survived by a small army of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
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