Nope, not Roslyn Carter, Laurie.
Nope, not Mamie Eisenhower, Susan.
Hint #3: She did not give interviews to the press.
The wife of the first George Bush.
Nope, not Barbara Bush, Roger.
Hint #4: He happened to be shaving the very first time she saw her future husband.
One of either Mrs. Coolidge or Hoover was I believe devoted to shopping.
Very good, Eva! It was Grace Coolidge. The quote comes from a round robin letter she wrote to her friends in 1937.
Here is how she first saw her future husband:
"Grace Goodhue (1879-1957) was a graduate of the University of Vermont, with a degree in teaching. Today, it would be called “special ed.” She taught at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was early in the twentieth century, and young Miss Goodhue boarded at the school, as was required.
Early one morning she was watering the flowers in front of the building, and happened to look up at the boarding house across the street. The upper story window was open, and there was a young man shaving. His suspenders hung at his waist, and the top of his union suit was plainly visible. His face was smeared with soapy lather. He was also wearing a derby hat.
The sight tickled her, and she laughed aloud. The young man may have heard her, for he turned to look out the window, saw the pretty girl, and did the quintessentially Coolidgesque thing: he tipped his hat and continued shaving. Grace was hysterical."
Source:
https://featherfoster.wordpress.com/2014...-coolidge/
Please - what is a round robin letter?
Eva, an example is a letter included with a Christmas card. The same letter goes to all your friends at Christmas. It includes what you and family did during the year, etc. Vicki and I receive quite a few of these each year, and they often include photos of trips, children, grandchildren, etc. in addition to text. In other words, Grace Coolidge told all her friends of her passion for auctions in her round robin letter of 1937.
Thank you, Roger. I haven't experienced such other than email-cc-ing. So she handwrote exactly the same letter several times, or did the addresses have to pass/mail the one letter on to each other?
I can just tell you our experience. Yes, the same letter is mailed to all friends at Christmas, and the ones we receive are almost always typed, not handwritten.
Thanks, Roger. (Please forgive - I am confused now/still not sure if one of many copies of an identical letter or the very same one letter to be passed round?! May be a language issue because "the same" = "derselbe" in German refers to the one original, "itself" so to speak, while there's "der gleiche" for identical copies, but both translates the same to English...)
It's a identical letter that goes to all. A common way to do it is to type one letter and then go to a copy machine and make c.30 or 40 copies (in other words how many people you want to receive it). Then fold them and put them in all your Christmas cards. All your friends thus receive an identical letter (not passed around).
I see, thank you for clarifying.