Charles WHITROCK

                   Obituary for Laura Mae Corrigan from the New York Times dated Saturday, January 24, 1948.

Mrs. Laura Mae Corrigan, widow of James W. Corrigan, Cleveland steel company head, died on Thursday at Post Graduate Hospital here.  Mrs. Corrigan was one of England's best known social leaders during the period after the First World War and in the recent war had won many decorations for her work in behalf of soldiers and refugees.  She arrived in this country from Paris on Christmas Eve to visit her sister, Mrs. David Armstrong-Taylor of San Francisco.  The two sisters had been staying at the Plaza Hotel since then.  Mrs. Corrigan became ill on Wednesday and was taken to the hospital.  FABULOUS SOCIETY STORY - The story of Laura Mae Corrigan was a fabulous one in the annals of international society.  She was born in Wisconsin.  Her father was said to have been an "odd jobs" man and she, herself, to have once been a waitress in Chicago.  These stories, despite the lack of any stigma pertaining to them, caused her exclusion from Cleveland society after her marriage to Mr. Corrigan, who was president of the Corrigan-McKinney Steel Company and a son of the founder of the business.  Snubbed on Euclid Avenue, the Corrigans came to New York, but met the same treatment here.  According to the society writers of the period immediately after the First World War, Mrs. Corrigan vainly spent "hundreds of thousands" of dollars in attempts to get into Gotham's social swim.  Shortly after the war she and her husband went to London, where in the course of time she met Mrs. George Keppel, famous as having been King Edward VII's favorite hostess.  Mrs. Corrigan rented Mrs. Keppel's mansion on Grosvenor Street, which had been the scene of many a lavish party for the haute monde.  She learned the secrets of success in entertaining royalty and was reputed to have hired Mrs. Keppel's coterie of butlers, footmen and other servants, whose drawing room manners were unmatched anywhere in the world.  MECCA FOR PRINCES, DUKES  - Soon the Corrigan mansion was the Mecca of princes, ambassadors and dukes.  By 1923, Mrs. Corrigan was virtually London's prime social arbiter.  The only element lacking, strangely enough, was "the Knickerbocker crowd."  No Astors, Vanderbilts or others bearing old New York - or Cleveland - names were ever invited.  The climax came when the phenomenally wealthy prince of India turned down a previous invitation to attend a party at the home of a leading American family of the "Knickerbocker" set in order to accept one at Mrs. Corrigan's.  When the Corrigans returned here, society columnists tried to make up to them by declaring in print that they "had not been deserted" by their friends here and had really just gone abroad to amuse themselves.  But the breach with Cleveland society was never patched up.  Euclid Avenue had become afraid of the Corrigans and Mrs. Corrigan no longer cared.  Mr. Corrigan died on Jan. 22, 1928, exactly twenty years before his wife.  He was then 47 years old.  Later Mrs. Corrigan went abroad again and once more shone in London society, although she had a clash with the Mountbattens and once committed the error of showing the door to an uninvited guest, who, she afterwards discovered was a member of the British royal household.    ORGANIZED "LA BIENVENUE" - Before the outbreak of the recent war, she went to France and immediately upon the commencement of hostilities organized a group of French and other Allied women into "La Bienvenue," a group dedicated to supplying comforts for the soldiers.  Her outstanding work in this respect led her to be later decorated with the "Croix du Combattant" by the French Government - one of the very few women ever so decorated because the award is only given for work in the front lines.  After the Nazi victory of 1940 she went to Unoccupied France, where she specialized in work for refugees.  She was afterwards decorated with the Croix de Guerre and made a member of the Legion of Honor for this work, in pursuit of which she liquidated much of her personal fortune, including her jewelry.  Eventually escaping through Portugal, she turned up in London in 1944, where 
she organized the "Wings Club," which became a famous as a haven for Allied aviators.  It was established in the former mansion of Lord Moyne, and the Duchess of Kent was chief patroness.  The King's Medal was bestowed upon her by Britain for her work.  Besides her sister, Mrs. Corrigan leaves a nephew, Duncan Armstrong-Taylor.
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Additional information noted below graciously provided Mar 2003 by John Corrigan of Jackson, NJ. He found this information while researching his own Corrigan family which is apparently  not related to ours.

Ellis Island Records dating from 1892 to 1924 there were three notices of the arrival in the Port of New York of Laura Mae Corrigan from Europe.

(1) 3 Nov 1920, Laura and husband James arrived in New York on board the ship "Olympic" from Southhampton, England.  The ship's manifest noted that Laura was 40 years of age and that she was a citizen of the US by virture of her marriage to James.  Her address in the US was noted as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, New York City.

(2) 11 Nov 1921, Laura Mae Corrigan along with her husband James departed Cherboourg, France on the ship "Aquitania" bournd for New York.  They arrived in New York on November 11, 1921.  Her date of birth was recorded as 22 Jan 1880, age 41 years, place of birth noted as Stevens Point, WI.  Her address in the US was noted as Wickliffe, OH.  (Wickliffe is in Lake County, just north-east of Cleveland where the James Corrigan family was known to have maintained a summer residence).  There was no passport information provided on the ship's manifest for Laura Mae Corrigan.  What is noted is: "Father US citizen, passport no.: 76270" (From that it appears that this was his father's passport number, his father, James C. Corrigan, had died in 1908.  If James W. Corrigan had his own passport, there would not have been any need to make a reference to his father's citizenship.)

(3) 25 Nov 1924, Laura Corrigan arrived in the Port of New York on board the ship "Majestic" from Cherbourg, France.  The ship's manifest notes she was 37 years of age and was born 2 Jan 1888 (date must be in error) in Stevens Point, WI.  Her address in the US was the Ritz Hotel, New York City.
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The following are excerpts from various articles and sources:
(1) In 1933 Mrs Daly was the secretary of the Board of Trustees of the TB Scott Library in the town of Wisconsin Rapids, Wood County, Wisconsin.  This was the depression era in the US and the library was experiencing financial difficulties.  After the September 1933 Board meeting, Mrs. Daly walked home.  In her mail she found an envelope postmarked London, England, and in it was a check for one-thousand dollars made out to the TB Scott Public Library and signed by Laura Mae Corrigan.  There are two interesting facts concerning this gift.  First, as a young woman, Mrs. Corrigan had lived in Grand Rapids before her marriage to the son of a Cleveland industrialist.  Making their home in London the couple had entered society as friends of several members of the royal family, especially the Duke and Duchess of Kent.  Because of her elaborate entertaining and widespread charities, Mrs. Corrigan became internationally known.  That she should hear about the library's plight from her sister, Mrs. Edward Bassett of Wisconsin Rapids, seems probable, that she should make this spontaneous and generous gift seems highly typical.  The second fact is that no gift could have come at a better time.  On November 3, 1933, the librarian reported that she could not keep the library open unless she could immediately use six-hundred dollars of the Corrigan gift.  (Note: The library remained open)

(2) In another article it was noted that in "September of 1933", Mrs. Laura Mae Corrigan, a former home girl known to her intimates as Laura Whitrock, sent checks totaling $10,000 to local organizations - Methodist Church, Congregational Church, South Wood County Chapter of the Red Cross, Riverview Hospital Association, Board of Education, TB Scott Library, Women's Federation for relief work and Wisconsin Rapids Unemployment Relief Fund.

(3) This is an excerpt of an article which appeared in the Portage County Gazette (Wisconsin) possibly in November or December of 2002:  The Parker Memorial Building was the first building constructed in Georke park, Stevens Point, for athletic purposes/use and named in honor of Mrs. Emma Parker, the mother of Laura Mae Corrigan.  (The building is also known as Goerke Park Skating Warming House).  The building was dedicated in May of 1934 and Laura Mae Corrigan donated $1000 towards it construction to help Stevens Point athletes.
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