WILLIAM O’SHAUGHNESSY
President & Editorial Director
April, 2011
Vivid Women in Every Season
In a previous volume I put together a list of “Vivid Souls” I’ve
encountered over the years. But that assemblage was heavily skewed
toward men. And I’ve been thinking for some time I ought to draw up
a list of only those marvelous and unforgettable women who dazzled
us with their style, intelligence and even with their innate goodness
during my already long life.
My readers and listeners will know many of these luminous women,
especially those who’ve played on the national stage where my
portfolio as a community broadcaster in the heart of the Eastern
Establishment has afforded me opportunities to witness their magic.
But I’ve also included those who operated out of the public spotlight
like my fourth grade teacher Miss Elizabeth Cadoo on whom I had an
unrequited crush some sixty years ago at Bedford Elementary School.
She was one classy dame in my nine-year-old eyes.
Of course my estimable mother Catherine Tucker O’Shaughnessy, who
kept the music playing for 85 years, is easily on the list. And so are
those with whom I’ve had only a very casual or passing acquaintance.
Many of these remarkable women I’ve seen only from afar. A few
have returned the favor with a fleeting, sidelong glance or even a
slight, furtive smile accompanied by a whispered greeting from across
a crowded room. Some on this list I’ve loved.
And been loved in
return.
All were vivid, unforgettable women who were class acts in every
season. Some still are. And although many are gone now and no
longer paint color into our drab lives, they surely had what the old
men of the neighborhood called “staying power.” So they stay. In my
memory. And, a few of them, in my heart.
Many were “of a certain age” like Kitty Carlisle Hart who was in her
90’s when she left the stage. But as I’m also fast approaching “a
certain age” myself as the 73rd anniversary of my natal day looms;
they keep coming back like a song … these special women.
Unforgettable … in every way.
->
Laura Accurso, Cindy Adams, Elizabeth Adinolfi, Amparo Alvarez,
Amelia St. Amand, Judy Fremont Arons, Brooke Astor, Heather Ball,
Polly Bergen, Karen Bernbach, Sandra Blackwell, Barbara Taylor
Bradford, Lois Bronz, Lucia Bruno, Connie Buckley, Jodi Bush, Di
Butensky, Elizabeth Cadoo, Trish Novak Canzeri, June Christy,
Jennifer Clement, Maria Cuomo Cole, Jane Cuozzo, Nancy Curry,
Matilda Raffa Cuomo, Janet DeFiore, Dee DelBello, Arianna Dordit,
Ann Dranginis.
Fernanda Eberstadt, Jean Ensign, Lucille Falcone, Erica Farber,
Katherine Farley, Geraldine Ferraro, Miriam Imber Fredman, Francine
LeFrak Friedberg, Frances Fusco, Cindy Hall Gallagher, Joan Gill,
Kirsten Gillibrand, Karen Goodfellow, Ronnie Gouz, Agnes Gund, Evie
Haas, Jo Hallingby, Lynn Handler, Anne Harmon, Kitty Carlisle Hart,
Gail Hilson, Marian Javits, Nancy Q. Keefe, Jane Hoey Kelly, Marie
Kennedy, Laura Kowalski, Marguerite Lascola, Mary Lindsay, Kim
Lombardo, Iris Love, Nita Lowey.
Egidiana Maccioni, Mary Marvin, Caryn McBride, Suzannah McCorkle,
JoAnne McCormick, Claudia McDonnell, Renate McKnight, Mabel
Mercer, Geneive Brown Metzger, Joyce Michaelian, Barbara Migliucci,
Mama Rose Migliucci, Cay Miller, Faith Miller, Sondra Miller, Shelby
Modell, Liz Moynihan, Kathy Mullen, Nora Murphy, Jackie Neary Nash,
Judy Ney, Lisa Niccolini, Margaret Noonan, Deborah Norville, Kate
Nulty, Miosotis Nunez.
Kate O’Brien, Kathleen Plunkett O’Connor, Valerie Moore O’Keeffe,
Kim Olds, Cara O’Shaughnessy, Julie O’Shaughnessy, Kelly
O’Shaughnessy, Margaret O’Shea, Emilie O’Sullivan, Anita Oken,
Libby Pataki, Nancy Pelosi, Jeanine Pirro, Kathy Pisano, Caryl
Plunkett, Rosemary Plunkett, Mary Porcelli, Patsy Preston, Lee
Radziwill, Jean Rather, Mary Louise Reid, Carol Reilly, Happy
Rockefeller, Janine Rose, Wendy Rosenberg, Elaine Sargent, Diane
Sawyer, Angela Scarano, Sue Scully, Judy Sheindlin, Daryl Sherman,
Michele Silva, Jan Johnson Smith, Liz Smith, Jane Sockwell, Brenda
Resnick Spano, Kathy Spicer, Sue Spina, Babita Spinelli, Susan St.
James, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Ellen Sulzberger Straus.
Laurie Taishoff, Ann Wharton Thayer, Ruth Hassell Thompson, Tolly
Travis, Marietta Tree, Catherine Tucker, Wendy Vanderbilt, Linda
Vaughn, Bonnie Verbitsky, Sandra Von Bidder, Shirin von Wulffen,
Sessa von Richthofen, Barbara Walters, Sabrina Wender, Lally
Weymouth, Ann Whitman, Dotty Mack Williams, Katherine Wilson,
Judy Woodruff, Beth Zander.
->
Ladies In Waiting
There are also in my life some vivid Dames “in-Waiting” … my
granddaughters: Isabel Grace O’Shaughnessy, Lily Anna
O’Shaughnessy and Amelia Jane Nulty.
One day they’ll be on some other old kindly white-haired
gentleman’s list.
They’re already on mine.
W.O.
###
William O’Shaughnessy is a former president of the New York State Broadcasters and
chairman of Public Affairs for the National Association of Broadcasters. He presently
serves as chairman of the Guardian Fund of the Broadcasters Foundation of America and
operates two of the last independent stations in the New York area: WVOX and WVIP.
He is the author of “AirWAVES” (1999) … “It All Comes Back to Me Now” (2001) … and
“More Riffs, Rants and Raves” (2004). His fourth anthology and latest collection of
editorials, commentaries and interviews “VOX POPULI: The O’Shaughnessy Files” was
just published by Fordham University Press.
Contact:
Cindy Hall Gallagher
914-235-3279
cindy@wvox.com
3
Broadcasting s First Amendment Advocacy s Publishing
Communication Strategies s Government Relations
One Broadcast Forum s New Rochelle s New York 10801 s Phone: 914-636-1460 s Fax: 914-636-2900 s Web: wvox.com
