Join us Thursday, September 19 at 5:30 p.m. for a Legacy Lecture by Mame Warren at our building in Lexington, Virginia, and streaming live online. A reception will follow the lecture.
A 40-Year Friendship
General of the Army George C. Marshall had few very close friends to whom he confided his most personal thoughts and feelings. Surprisingly, one of the most cherished was a much younger woman, Rose Page Wilson, who first met her dashing “Colonel Marshall” when she was eight and he was 39 years old, just returned from World War I. Their extraordinary friendship, where Marshall shared personal anecdotes from his own life to encourage his goddaughter as she faced challenges during adolescence, her early career, marriage, parenthood, and the loss of loved ones, endured until his death in 1959. It is an unexpected record of a remarkable rapport between two devoted friends, who each filled special emotional needs the other.
Their correspondence reveals a side of the military and diplomatic giant of the twentieth century known to few people until Wilson published her memoir, General Marshall Remembered, in 1968. There, Wilson remembered Marshall’s “sense of fun” and reflected in her memoir that “without it, he would not have been the whole man that he was. His brilliance, decency, kindness; his continual efforts ‘to understand rather than be understood’; his strict adherence to honor in total disregard of vicious criticism; his utterly selfless service to humanity; and all these virtues leavened by his humor—that was George C. Marshall, the whole man.”
How can I attend?
The event is free to the public, but reservations are required. To reserve a seat, or for more information about the event, contact [email protected] or call 540.463.7103, ext. 138.
How can I watch from home?
The presentation will also be livestreamed on the Marshall Foundation YouTube channel (https://bit.ly/2Or0E8D) simultaneously. Viewers of the stream are encouraged to write questions using the live video chat (to the lower right of the video) or via email at [email protected]. Chat will be monitored for abusive comments.
Who is Mame Warren?
Mame Warren was a senior assistant editor for the final two volumes of The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, from 2011 through 2015. Prior to that she was director of Hopkins History Enterprises at The Johns Hopkins University from 1999 to 2011, where she edited four books, curated numerous exhibitions, and conducted hundreds of oral history interviews. She was the editor of Come Cheer for Washington and Lee: the University at 250 Years, published in 1998. She is also the author or coauthor of numerous books of Maryland-based photographic histories, particularly Maryland Time Exposures, 1840–1940, and Bringing Back the Bay: the Chesapeake in the Photographs of Marion E. Warren and the Voices of Its People. From 1985 to 1995 she served as curator of photographs at the Maryland State Archives. Currently, she volunteers in the garden at Boxerwood and serves as an ambassador welcoming weekend visitors; is a patient volunteer with Connections Plus Hospice and Healthcare; and serves on the community council for the Heifetz International Music Institute in Staunton.
The George C. Marshall Foundation Legacy Series is sponsored by:
The Anne C. Robins & Walter R. Robins, Jr. Foundation