As we get ready for the signing and reading for A Daring Life: A Biography of Eudora Welty by Carolyn Brown, Mary Alice Welty White shares her memories of a very special aunt.

Dodo was the name my sister Liz and I called our aunt Eudora until we went to college. We were the only children in the family, and Eudora was our Auntie Mame. She drove cool cars. The first in my memory was a red Ford convertible. Her last was a two-door, four-on-the-floor Oldsmobile. She always chose cars with a standard transmission.

Eudora enjoyed travel and took us on trips. We would go to Vicksburg and picnic in the park. Our favorite stop was the Illinois Memorial where we would go inside the large monument to hoot and holler and listen to our echoes reverberating around the marble walls. We would ride the train to New Orleans, stay at the Hotel Monteleone, eat at Galatoires, and listen to jazz at Preservation Hall. When Eudora took us on a two-day train trip to New York, we had our own private compartment. We stayed at the Algonquin Hotel and toured the usual sites including the Empire State Building and Museum of Natural History. Because Eudora loved the theatre, while in New York we went to see Damn Yankees, No Time for Sergeants, and Auntie Mame. Eudora appreciated all the performing arts. She loved to dance and won a Charleston contest while she was a student at the W in Columbus, Mississippi.

Our Aunt Dodo doted on Liz and me. She fixed up the sleeping porch in her home so we would enjoy spending the night, which we did quite often. The bookcase in the room was filled with fairy tale books for us to enjoy. We were even allowed to type our “stories” on her typewriter.

Eudora arranged for local artist Helen Jay Lotterhos to give Liz and me art lessons, and she sent us to camp. For college graduation, Eudora gave me a two and a half month trip to Europe. I sailed on the France and visited 16 countries – a truly wonderful gift.

I will always be grateful to Eudora for imparting a love of family, books, travel, art, and humor to Liz and me. -Mary Alice Welty White

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If you have story about Miss Welty that you would like to share on our blog, please e-mail them to lisa@lemuriabooks.com.

Click here to learn about Carolyn Brown’s A Daring Life: A Biography of Eudora Welty

Click here to see all blogs in our Knowing Miss Welty series

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