Edith Kingdon Gould Martin (August 20, 1920 – August 17, 2004) was an American socialite, linguist, actress, and poet.

Birth

She was the daughter of financier Kingdon Gould Sr., granddaughter of financier George Jay Gould, and great-granddaughter of Jay Gould the robber baron. She appeared as an actress in the 1946 Broadway production of Agatha Christie's play Hidden Horizon.

Poet

Time writes on December 24, 1934:

Out just in time to make a fine Christmas present for her schoolmates at Miss Hewitt's Classes was a thin, blue & white book of Poems by Edith Kingdon Gould, 14, great-granddaughter of Jay Gould. On the day it was published Manhattan newshawks called at the Goulds' Manhattan penthouse, found the butler and Miss Edith, a well-poised girl with bangs and saucer eyes, at home. Said Poet Gould. "I suppose I must get used to this if I am going to be any good with my verse." Thereupon she rattled solemnly: "I have been writing poetry since I was 6. It's funny that I should have loved poetry, isn't it? Most of the girls I know really loathe it. ... I like horseback riding, swimming, and tennis, but I am poor at tennis. ... I like boys all right, but I don't like them my own age. They seem so stupid. ... I think it's very silly of Roosevelt to tax the rich and give it to the unemployed." Miss Gould posed for newscameramen, then ushered her callers to the elevator. "You know," said she "I will get 10 cents for every copy that's sold." Best of her 37 verses. Author Gould likes "When Tomorrow," written on her 14th birthday last August:

When tomorrow has become today
I will be one year older, people say.
When today has joined the endless train
Of yesterdays that came and went again,
This past year with its wild desires,
Hopes unrealized that youth inspires,
Dreams that became deceptions, rapture, all
Will have passed far out beyond recall.
Year that I have lived! Thoughts that were my own!
Dying in the dead of night, alone.
Will I, too, sometime have slipped their way
When tomorrow has become today?

In October 1942 she joined the WAVES as an apprentice seaman and trained in Madison, Wisconsin. She graduated as an ensign from the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School in Northampton, Massachusetts, in April 1944. Later she was promoted to a lieutenant. She spoke five languages.

Marriage and children

She married Isaiah Guyman "Guy" Martin Jr. (1911-2014)[1] when he was age 35. He was a Navy lieutenant and a lawyer in Judge Advocate General's Corps. They married in Manhattan in October 1946. They had four children: Isaiah Guyman Martin III, Jason Gould Martin, Christopher Kingdon Martin, and Edith Maria Theodosia Burr Martin.

Death

She died on August 17, 2004, in the Catskills.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Isaiah G. Martin, Jr. Obituary". The Washington Post. May 13–15, 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "Edith Gould Martin". The Washington Post. August 27, 2004. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved 2008-08-22. Edith Gould Martin, 83, a musician and former trustee of the Washington National Opera, died Aug. 17 of complications from a stroke while at her country residence in Arkville, N.Y. She had lived in Washington since 1946. Mrs. Martin was born in New York City. She attended Barnard College for a year before joining the Navy during World War II. She served as a radiowoman in San Diego and later worked in the Office of Naval Intelligence, attaining the rank of lieutenant junior grade. Before the war, she spent a summer at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va., and afterward appeared onstage in New York in several plays, including Agatha Christie's "Hidden Horizon." She was a pianist and studied ...


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