My Mother Sang The Role of Micaela in Carmen

My mother, Dr. Pearl M. Sampson, sang the role of Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen with the Chicago Lyric Opera in the mid-1920s. This was during the time she was attending medical school in Chicago. My son, Reid, found this on the Internet: Dame Joan Sutherland “Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante” Micaëla’s aria in Bizet’s… Continue reading My Mother Sang The Role of Micaela in Carmen

Grandmother Eldora Thankful Sampson

My maternal grandmother, Eldora Thankful Sampson (nee: Hill; b 1866, d 1953) loved to go and watch race cars race and horses race. This was probably in the 1920s, in either Creston or Monroe, Iowa. I’m still surprised that my grandmother so enjoyed watching race cars. She was so dignified and quite. It didn’t seem like… Continue reading Grandmother Eldora Thankful Sampson

Poem For My Favorite Cousin, Sally

Sally, is, as a distant mountain peak, That, though you seldom see, is, always, there. Whose wavy hair of Autumn auburn Frames the sweetest face that, one, might, ever see. Whose eyes glisten, as the stars, at Early Twilight, With playful joy, as mermaids, near the shore, at Night And, hides a charming brain with… Continue reading Poem For My Favorite Cousin, Sally