Carmen Vial Freire Dows
Ambassador of Chile to the Netherlands
In office
1947–1950
MonarchWilhelmina
PresidentGabriel González Videla
Personal details
Born
Carmen Vial Freire

(1904-03-28)March 28, 1904
Santiago, Chile
DiedJanuary 1978(1978-01-00) (aged 73)
Puente Alto, Chile
Spouse
Luis Browne Fernández
​
​
(date missing)​
Octavio de Señoret
​
(died 1941)​
​
(m. 1950)​
ChildrenLuis Fernando Vial Browne
EducationHarvard University

Carmen Vial Dows (née Carmen Vial Freire, formerly Carmen Vial Browne and Carmen Vial de Señoret) (March 28, 1904 – January 1978) was a Chilean diplomat who served as the Ambassador to the Netherlands.

Early life

Carmen Viale Freire was born in Santiago, Chile on March 28, 1904, into an aristocratic family and was educated by English and French governesses. She was one of eight children born to Donna Carolina Freire Valdés and Don Pedro Daniel del Carmen Vial Carvallo. Her father was a founder of the La Granja, its first mayor, and deputy for San Fernando from 1906 to 1909.[1]

Her paternal grandfather was Alejandro Vial Guzmán, the Chilean Minister of Finance from 1856 to 1857 under Manuel Montt. Through her mother, she was a great-granddaughter of Ramón Freire, the first President of Chile.[2] Her maternal grandfather was Francisco Freire Caldera, the Minister of Foreign Affairs under José Manuel Balmaceda.

Career

Queen Wilhelmina receives envoy from Chile, Mrs. Carmen Vial de Señoret, 1949

Upon the death of her second husband in 1941, Carmen joined the Chilean Diplomatic Corps and she began serving as Cultural attaché in the Embassy of Chile, Washington, D.C.[3][4] before becoming consul in Boston a year and a half later.[5] While in Boston, she studied Economics and International Trade at Harvard University.[6]

In 1944, she was a Chilean representative to the Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire, the gathering of 730 delegates from all the Allied nations to regulate the international monetary and financial order after the conclusion of World War II.[7]

In 1947, during the presidency of Gabriel González Videla, she was appointed the Chilean Ambassador to the Netherlands, serving in The Hague until 1950.[8] She later served in her country's delegation to the Plenary Session of the United Nations.[2][9]

Personal life

Carmen was married three times. Her first marriage was to Chilean architect Luis Browne Fernández (1898–1944), best known for designing the Presidential Palace of Cerro Castillo. Before their divorce, they were the parents of:[2]

  • Luis Fernando Vial Browne (1930–2022), he married Edith Gammack of New York, daughter of Thomas Hubbard Gammack and Mrs. William Douglas Burden, in 1957.[10][11] They divorced in 1971 and he married Nathalie Kuhn in 1974.[3]

Her second marriage was to Octavio de Señoret, who was a governor and parliamentarian. He was the son of Manuel Señoret Astaburuaga and María Mercedes Silva. In 1939, he was appointed Chilean Ambassador to the United Kingdom and they moved to London where they lived through World War II and she joined the Red Cross. They remained married until his death in 1941 in Lisbon, Portugal.[2]

Her third marriage was in 1950 to Stephen Olin Dows, a muralist who had been a fine‐arts consultant in the Roosevelt administration.[1][12] A son of Alice Olin Dows, her husband owned a large home in Rhinebeck, New York known as Glenburn, and they maintained a home in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.[2]

After a long illness, Dows died in January 1978 at her family's farm in Puente Alto, Chile.[2] Olin Dows died in 1981.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 "MME. DE SENORET FIANCEE OF ARTIST; Chilean Envoy to Netherlands and to U. N. Session Will Be Bride of S. Olin Dows". The New York Times. 7 October 1949. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Carmen Viale Freire Dows, 70, A Former Chilean Ambassador". The New York Times. 28 January 1978. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Luis Fernando Vial Browne". Palm Beach Post. May 13, 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  4. ↑ Chilean gazette. Chilean Embassy. 1942. p. 6. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  5. ↑ Proceedings and Documents. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1948. p. 295. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  6. ↑ La Mujer Chilena (in Spanish). Andres Bello. 1972. p. 11. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  7. ↑ Markwell 2006.
  8. ↑ Information, United Nations Department of Public (1949). Political Rights of Women: 56 Years of Progress. Department of Public Information, United Nations. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  9. ↑ Nations, United (1949). Delegations to the United Nations. United Nations. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  10. ↑ Eder, Gabor (25 October 1957). "EDITH T. GAMMACK WILL BE MARRIED; Ex-Sarah Lawrence Student Fiancee of Luis F. Browne, Marine Corps Veteran". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  11. ↑ Beale, Tom (1 December 1957). "EDITH T. GAMMACK IS MARRIED HERE; St. Patrick's Scene of Her Wedding to Luis F. Browne --She Wears Silk Faille". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  12. ↑ Times, The New York (8 January 1950). "MME. DE SENORET, S. OLIN DOWS WED; PRINCIPALS IN WEDDING AND A BRIDE-TO-BE". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  13. ↑ "OILIN DOWS, ARTIST KNOWEN FOR HIS MURALS, DIES AT 76". The New York Times. 7 June 1981. Retrieved 15 August 2022.

Bibliography

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