Edith Nash
Encyclopedia
Edith Nash was an educator and poet.
Edith Henriet (Rosenfels) Nash was born in Oak Park, Illinois
, where she was a childhood friend of a sister of Ernest Hemingway
. She met her future husband, Wisconsin anthropologist and politician Philleo Nash
, while in college in Chicago. On November 2, 1935, they married. Edith Nash, trained as an anthropologist, did field work in the American West among Native Americans in the 1930s. In the 1940s through the 1950s, she was the second director and co-founder of the Georgetown Day School
, the first racially integrated school in Washington, D.C.
.
Edith Nash also wrote poetry and critical essays. Practice: The Here and Now (Cross+Roads Press, 2001), her best-known book, includes a sample of her poetry and prose. She spent three decades of her life in her husband's home town, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
, from which she managed a Biron, Wisconsin
, cranberry marsh and became a major player in local and state politics. She was an early supporter of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
, a Wisconsin Democrat.
She wrote about her 1930s "coming out" party at a Chicago speakeasy, meeting "Ernie" Hemingway at his Oak Park parent's home in 1929, and the progressive causes she championed all the years of her life. Nash's husband was targeted (and condemned on the floor of the U.S. Senate) by Wisconsin U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy
, a Republican whose name is now linked forever to the tactic of unfounded political attacks. However, that didn't stop his wife from soliciting money for the Georgetown Day School from McCarthy when she met him by chance in the 1950s. Her life was celebrated in the poem "When You're Eighty-Five," which was published by her friend Mark Scarborough in the summer 2001 issue of the Wisconsin Academy Review.
Among Nash's other writer friends were Muriel Rukeyser
and Frances Hamerstrom
. Nash, an inspiration for generations of writers in central Wisconsin, also was a tireless advocate of free expression during her tenure as a member of a book review committee of the Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools and as a co-founder (with then Lincoln High School student Elisa Derickson) of the Elisa Derickson Fund for Creative Writing, South Wood County Community Foundation, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
.
Edith Nash's other volumes of poetry include White Line on the Left (Round Robin Press, no date, but circa 1990), The Words (Home Brew Press, 1992), Now is the Time (Round Robin Press, 1996), and A Christmas Offering: Selected Poems, 1985-2000 (privately printed, 2000). Her poetry was also included in the anthologies The Poetry of Cold (Home Brew Press, 1997) and At the Heart of Riverwood (Round Robin Press, 2000). Her poems and essays were published in publications as varied as Free Verse, Wisconsin Poet's Calendar, and Wisconsin River Valley Journal. She was the founder of the Riverwood Roundtable, a central Wisconsin literary society.
Edith Nash died in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
.
Edith Henriet (Rosenfels) Nash was born in Oak Park, Illinois
Oak Park, Illinois
Oak Park, Illinois is a suburb bordering the west side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L' Blue and Green lines,...
, where she was a childhood friend of a sister of Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
. She met her future husband, Wisconsin anthropologist and politician Philleo Nash
Philleo Nash
Philleo Nash was a government official, educator, anthropolologist, and Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 1959-1961 as a Democrat.-Early life and family:...
, while in college in Chicago. On November 2, 1935, they married. Edith Nash, trained as an anthropologist, did field work in the American West among Native Americans in the 1930s. In the 1940s through the 1950s, she was the second director and co-founder of the Georgetown Day School
Georgetown Day School
Georgetown Day School is a pre-K-12 private preparatory school in Washington, D.C..-History:GDS was founded in 1945 as the first integrated school in the District of Columbia.-Academics:...
, the first racially integrated school in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
Edith Nash also wrote poetry and critical essays. Practice: The Here and Now (Cross+Roads Press, 2001), her best-known book, includes a sample of her poetry and prose. She spent three decades of her life in her husband's home town, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Rapids is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,435 at the 2000 census.According to the 2010 census, the Wisconsin Rapids micropolitan area was home to 54,362 people...
, from which she managed a Biron, Wisconsin
Biron, Wisconsin
Biron is a village in Wood County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 915 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Biron is located at ....
, cranberry marsh and became a major player in local and state politics. She was an early supporter of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
Russ Feingold
Russell Dana "Russ" Feingold is an American politician from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He served as a Democratic party member of the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 2011. From 1983 to 1993, Feingold was a Wisconsin State Senator representing the 27th District.He is a recipient of the John F...
, a Wisconsin Democrat.
She wrote about her 1930s "coming out" party at a Chicago speakeasy, meeting "Ernie" Hemingway at his Oak Park parent's home in 1929, and the progressive causes she championed all the years of her life. Nash's husband was targeted (and condemned on the floor of the U.S. Senate) by Wisconsin U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
, a Republican whose name is now linked forever to the tactic of unfounded political attacks. However, that didn't stop his wife from soliciting money for the Georgetown Day School from McCarthy when she met him by chance in the 1950s. Her life was celebrated in the poem "When You're Eighty-Five," which was published by her friend Mark Scarborough in the summer 2001 issue of the Wisconsin Academy Review.
Among Nash's other writer friends were Muriel Rukeyser
Muriel Rukeyser
Muriel Rukeyser was an American poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism...
and Frances Hamerstrom
Frances Hamerstrom
Frances "Fran" Hamerstrom was an American author, naturalist and ornithologist known for her work with the greater prairie chicken in Wisconsin, and for her research on birds of prey...
. Nash, an inspiration for generations of writers in central Wisconsin, also was a tireless advocate of free expression during her tenure as a member of a book review committee of the Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools and as a co-founder (with then Lincoln High School student Elisa Derickson) of the Elisa Derickson Fund for Creative Writing, South Wood County Community Foundation, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Rapids is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,435 at the 2000 census.According to the 2010 census, the Wisconsin Rapids micropolitan area was home to 54,362 people...
.
Edith Nash's other volumes of poetry include White Line on the Left (Round Robin Press, no date, but circa 1990), The Words (Home Brew Press, 1992), Now is the Time (Round Robin Press, 1996), and A Christmas Offering: Selected Poems, 1985-2000 (privately printed, 2000). Her poetry was also included in the anthologies The Poetry of Cold (Home Brew Press, 1997) and At the Heart of Riverwood (Round Robin Press, 2000). Her poems and essays were published in publications as varied as Free Verse, Wisconsin Poet's Calendar, and Wisconsin River Valley Journal. She was the founder of the Riverwood Roundtable, a central Wisconsin literary society.
Edith Nash died in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Rapids is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,435 at the 2000 census.According to the 2010 census, the Wisconsin Rapids micropolitan area was home to 54,362 people...
.