Lily Gelb 1943- born Detroit, MI
I met Lily during the Centennial Celebration of the birth of Amelia
Earhart. Teaching a sketching class on the river bluff, across the
street from the Birthplace Museum in Atchison, Kansas, I saw a
woman who looked like Amelia Earhart. It was an apparition. My
students & I sat on the river bluff across the street from Amelia’s
grandparents home drawing the river and surrounding landscape just
as Amelia and her sister, Muriel, used to do. Lily walked up to me and
asked if I would take a picture of her with the bridge across the river
in the background. She was wearing a vintage 1930s flight suit,
leather helmet, goggles and a strand of pearls (Amelia always wore
pearls). The bridge had been re-named that morning: The Amelia
Earhart Bridge. It is the only bridge in Kansas named for a woman.
My students and I were so startled; she really did look for all the
world like Amelia. Of course, I obliged her and took her picture. She
then introduced herself as Lily and asked if I would take another
photograph with the Birthplace Museum in the background. The
young people from the art class were fascinated, to say the least.
Numerous photographs were taken; all the children wanted a picture
with "Amelia." What an experience for the young artists.... and for
me. As we later became friends I began to call her AmeLily; we still
stay in touch and I never forget her birthday, July 24th, the same as
Amelia's.
I met Lily during the Centennial Celebration of the birth of Amelia
Earhart. Teaching a sketching class on the river bluff, across the
street from the Birthplace Museum in Atchison, Kansas, I saw a
woman who looked like Amelia Earhart. It was an apparition. My
students & I sat on the river bluff across the street from Amelia’s
grandparents home drawing the river and surrounding landscape just
as Amelia and her sister, Muriel, used to do. Lily walked up to me and
asked if I would take a picture of her with the bridge across the river
in the background. She was wearing a vintage 1930s flight suit,
leather helmet, goggles and a strand of pearls (Amelia always wore
pearls). The bridge had been re-named that morning: The Amelia
Earhart Bridge. It is the only bridge in Kansas named for a woman.
My students and I were so startled; she really did look for all the
world like Amelia. Of course, I obliged her and took her picture. She
then introduced herself as Lily and asked if I would take another
photograph with the Birthplace Museum in the background. The
young people from the art class were fascinated, to say the least.
Numerous photographs were taken; all the children wanted a picture
with "Amelia." What an experience for the young artists.... and for
me. As we later became friends I began to call her AmeLily; we still
stay in touch and I never forget her birthday, July 24th, the same as
Amelia's.
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