Person:Theresa Courtney (1)

THERESA VIVIAN COURTNEY (1883-1950)

Auntie was my Grandmother Mame's sister. As a child, she was stricken with double ankylosis, a rheumatoid arthritis disease that paralyzed her from her hips to her knees. She was able to get around, walking with a swinging gait. She was a beautiful woman with hazel eyes. She lived near my grandparents in Denver in a lovely apartment. She and my mother were closer than most mothers and daughters.

Because Auntie needed some help in travelling, my grandparents would always allow mother to go on trips with the family. They would take wonderful trips together - Mexico, the East Coast, Vancouver B.C., etc. Auntie taught Mother about the stock exchange, real estate, and investments of all kinds.

Auntie loved haute couture and jewelry. She had the money, so she always dressed in the latest fashions, and drove the latest cars (trading every year).

She was my godmother. When our family moved to San Luis Obispo, California, Dad and Mother asked Auntie to live with us, as it would be good for her health. She was wonderful to have around - and always very generous with her time and money. Years later she went to Washington, DC with us, eventually marrying Ed Burke. He was a widower whom she had known all her life, and was Auntie's step-father's nephew. She went to live in Tulsa, OK.

Ed had three children (two sons and a daughter) whom Auntie helped to raise. She died in May, 1950 just ten days before my father, Clifford Starr.

Related by Patricia Newquist

She is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Denver, CO.