Nina Larrey Duryea (August 11, 1874 — November 1, 1951) was an American writer, decorated for her relief work during World War I.
Early life edit
Nina Larrey Smith was born in Cohasset, Massachusetts, the daughter of Franklin Webster Smith and Laura Bevan Smith. Her father was a merchant in Boston, and a founder of the YMCA in the United States. She was educated in Boston and in Belgium.[1]
Career edit
Books by Duryea included Tales of St. Augustine (1891), Among the Palms (1903),[2] House of Seven Gabblers (1911),[3] The Voice Unheard: A Story of Dinard (1913),[4] A Sentimental Dragon (1916),[5] The Soul of Fighting France (1918), Mallorca the Magnificent (1927),[6] and The Pride of Maura (1932).[7] Of Duryea's A Sentimental Dragon, a magazine editor promised that "the characters are very much alive, the situations are drawn with deft and delicious humor, and the dialogue is filled with sparkling brilliants and epigrams that make one stop to read them a second time."[8]
Duryea spent her summers in Brittany. In autumn of 1914, Life magazine, The New York Times, and many other news outlets published Duryea's letters describing the refugees arriving in her town,[9][10] Duryea founded Duryea War Relief (Secours Duryea) at Dinard. From a base in Roye, Somme, and a depot at Lille, she and her assistants distributed clothing, food, garden tools, medicine and other necessities to over 70,000 war survivors and refugees.[11] Her organization also opened a children's center offering meals and a safe playground (while outdoor play was still dangerous from shrapnel, explosives and other hazards), a hospital for children with tuberculosis, and an orphanage.[12] Duryea was named a member of the French Legion of Honour for her work, with further decorations from Belgium, Italy, Russia and Montenegro.[13][14][15]
After the war, she served as vice president of the International Revival of Industrial Arts, building a market for handicrafts from war-affected regions.[16] She also invented a textile named Sona and a garment called Torsolite, for protective use in hazardous situations.[17][18]
In 1919, a comedy by Duryea, Mrs. Drummond's War Relief, was produced in New York, directed by Hilda Spong, with Duryea and others raising funds and giving speeches about post-war reconstruction during intermissions.[19] Another play by Duryea, Love — Common or Preferred, was produced as a fundraiser in 1932.[1]
Personal life edit
Nina Larrey Smith married Chester Burrell Duryea, an inventor, in 1898.[20] They had one son, Chester, before separating in 1903.[21] Her ex-husband was committed to New York's Matteawan State Hospital after killing his father, Civil War general Hiram Duryea, in 1914. She died in 1951, at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, aged 77 years.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c "Mrs. Duryea Dead; War Work Leader" New York Times (November 3, 1951): 17.
- ^ Nina Larrey Duryea, Among the Palms (J. F. Taylor & Company 1903).
- ^ Nina Larrey Duryea, House of Seven Gabblers (D. Appleton & Company 1911).
- ^ Nina Larrey Duryea, A Voice Unheard: A Story of Dinard (Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company Ltd. 1913).
- ^ Nina Larrey Duryea, A Sentimental Dragon (George H. Doran & Company 1916).
- ^ Nina Larrey Duryea, Mallorca the Magnificent (The Century 1927).
- ^ Nina Larrey Duryea, The Pride of Maura (Sears Publishing Company 1932).
- ^ "The Complete Novelette" The Smart Set (September 1912): 2.
- ^ "Helpless Victims of War's Cruel Tide" New York Times (September 4, 1914): 4.
- ^ "For the Sufferers" Life Magazine (November 5, 1914): 805.
- ^ Ida Clyde Gallagher Clarke, American Women and the World War (D. Appleton 1918): 483.
- ^ "The French-American Hall of Fame: Mrs. Nina Larrey Duryea" La France (April 1920): 346.
- ^ "The Anglo-American Entente" Woman's Home Companion (May 1919): 58.
- ^ "Montenegrin Queen Honors U. S. Women" Salt Lake Herald-Republican (April 7, 1918): 35. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Another Decoration for Mrs. Nina Duryea" Courier News (April 19, 1918): 11. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Activities of Members" Journal of the National Institute of Social Sciences 6(July 1920): 123-124.
- ^ "Mrs. Nina L. Duryea, 83, Widow of Murder Case Defendant" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (November 3, 1951): 5. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Mrs. Duryea's Invention Put on the Market" Berkshire Eagle (August 18, 1943): 9. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Duryea War Relief Will Rebuild Lille" New York Times (May 5, 1919): 7.
- ^ "Weddings of Early June" New York Times (June 2, 1898): 7.
- ^ "Mrs. Duryea's Suit Heard" New York Times (February 25, 1903): 16.
