So here is to Louise Louellen. Wherever you are, thank you for holding the line. Do you have a forgotten relative with a unique name? Share their story in the comments below. Let’s make sure history remembers them.
In my research (which led me through census records from Kentucky and Missouri), I found that women with names like Louellen often existed in the margins. They weren't the suffragettes holding signs on Pennsylvania Avenue, nor were they the factory workers of the Rosie the Riveter era. They were the backbone: the mothers, the seamstresses, the telephone operators, the widows. louise louellen
So, who was Louise Louellen? And why should we care about her today? There is something undeniably melodic about "Louise Louellen." It sounds like a character out of a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel—perhaps a flapper with a cigarette holder or a Southern heiress with a secret. So here is to Louise Louellen