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It’s
hard to believe, and even unfathomable for people
under thirty to imagine that Patty Hearst was
the most famous young woman in America in the 1970s because of
the shocking journey that began one innocent evening in Berkeley
with a knock on her door by perfect strangers, self-styled political
revolutionaries who called themselves the Symbionese Liberation
Army, who abducted her, and inducted her, into a long mind-boggling
notoriety that included bank robberies and other high crimes
followed by long jail sentences for everyone involved, including
Ms. Hearst who convicted and jailed, was later given a Presidential
Pardon by Bill Clinton.
Hard to believe because anyone who knows Patty Hearst today (or for the past
two decades) or who saw her at the activities at Versailles two weeks ago, knows
a lovely, sweet soft-spoken personality, devoted mother (she brought her two
daughters Lydia and Gillian with her, pictured),
sister, daughter and wife.
Mrs. Hearst-Shaw lives in New York and Connecticut, and like her sister Anne,
with whom she is in close contact (their daughters are contemporaries – and
Anne’s daughter Amanda, like her cousin Lydia, is currently
pursuing a modeling career), she has lots of close friends on the New York charity/social
scene.
The picture tells the story – a friendly, outgoing woman, like her friend
(and sort of a look-alike of Kimberly Rockefeller), Patty is
a very popular young
mother who’s written books, acted in films, chaired charity galas and otherwise
might remind you of that nice neighbor next door.
The Hearst girls were brought up in California (San Francisco) where independence
in women is bred into the character, as well as self-respect and a quiet common
courtesy. It’s interesting to see some of their daughters pursuing careers
that foster celebrity, a path blazed by their childhood friends Paris
and Nicky
Hilton, in an almost star-struck way. It’s also amusingly ironic
considering
that Patty’s grandfather William Randolph Hearst was instrumental
with
his “yellow journalism” in creating the American notion of notorious
celebrity, and that she herself almost eclipsed him as a household word with
hers, while today she’s a watchful mom and caring friend, like her sister
Anne (she has other sisters whom I don’t know), and like her own mother. |
Albemarle,
Rufus
Aston, Muffie Potter
Basso, Dennis
Benedict, Daniel
Capehart, Jonathan
Cominotto, Michael
Curry, Boykin
Dahl, Tessa
DeWoody, Beth Rudin
Duchin, Peter and Brooke
Duff, Patricia
Eaton, Phoebe
Fales-HIll, Susan
Fekkai, Frederic
THE FULL LIST
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