Russell '47 Remembers Graham, Roosevelt
Ella Russell Torrey '47 was profiled in the Chestnut Hill Local about her dance studies with Martha Graham at Bennington College, and her memories of Eleanor Roosevelt, and her lifetime of work for international peace.
Torrey remembers advice that Graham once gave her: “She once said to me ‘You have the body but not the soul [of a dancer]. You’ll major in English,’ so I did.”
Torrey went on to work in journalism, and, in 1949, she became the Public Information Officer for Eleanor Roosevelt, who President Truman had appointed a US delegate to the U.N.
"Mrs. Roosevelt was very smart," Torrey said. "Sometimes she would practice speaking if she were going to debate someone like Andrei Vishinski, a brilliant Russian ambassador. She was always well prepared. It scared the hell out of them.”
Torrey continued her work with international peace for over fifty years.