The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

      

HYDE PARK—I left Hyde Park very early Monday morning so as to be in New York in time for the funeral of a woman for whom I have always had the greatest admiration, Miss Charlotte E. Carr.

Her life was so full and so valuable to so many people that one can only be thankful that she had 66 years in which to give of her extraordinary powers. I don't think she was ever afraid of any situation. In fact, she used to say it was her Irish blood which made her ready for any fight.

She was a Vassar College graduate in 1915 and went immediately into social work, and I think that she must be one of the graduates of which the college is really proud.

Miss Carr served in important positions during and after the war. It always seemed that she was taking on work when, at the moment, that work needed ability and great strength of character. She had it and she used it.

She worked in Pennsylvania, in New York and in Washington. She was head of Hull House in Chicago for a number of years after Jane Addams died. For the last few years she suffered ill health, but she kept right on working as long as she was able, and when she died she was consultant to Commissioner of Welfare Henry L. McCarthy in New York City.

At her funeral were men and women who have known her for many years and who were paying homage to the many worthwhile fights she had waged for the underprivileged. She always worked for that third of the nation which is ill-housed, ill-clothed, ill-fed, even today, and she never tired of the battle.

Miss Carr had innumerable friends. On the Citizens Committee for Children, where she served as director for a number of years, there will be genuine grief on the part of all her co-workers.

But there is one thing which I think we can all rejoice in. She died in her sleep and that means she did not know that her battles had come to an end and she probably had no pain. God was good to one of His valiant workers who had given much in the service of humanity.

On Sunday afternoon I drove over to Salisbury, Conn. Such a peaceful, quiet village with such charming old houses!

I spoke in the Scoville Memorial Library for the Salisbury Women's Democratic Club on the principles of the Democratic party, and I was glad to find I had a few Republicans in my audience, for I cannot help feeling that most Democrats know as much about their own party as I do.

For a Sunday afternoon in July, I thought it was quite remarkable that in this Republican area we had at least 200 persons present. I was delighted to have a chance to meet them afterwards and to be introduced by a gentleman I had not seen in years, Mr. Van Santfoord.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1956, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

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Organizations
Geographic
  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, July 18, 1956

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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