Name |
Selina Bres |
Census |
1870 |
New Orleans, Louisiana |
- aged 6/12 (census taken on 13th June); born in Louisiana
|
Birth |
1 Jan 1870 |
New Orleans, Louisiana |
Gender |
Female |
Census |
1880 |
New Orleans, Louisiana |
- aged 10, born in Louisiana like parents
|
Graduation |
1896 |
Newcomb College, New Orleans, Louisiana |
Obituary |
Obituary, Times-Picayune, Nov., 7, 1953:
Mrs. Gregory Dies in France
Mrs Selina Elizabeth Bres Gregory, 83, for more than 50 years an active alumna of Newcomb college; died at American hospital in Paris, France, Friday at 5:10 a.m. (Paris time.)
An 1896 graduate of Newcomb, Mrs. Gregory was the widow of William Benjamin Gregory, Tulane professor of engineering from 1896 to 1938, when he retired. Mr. Gregory died eight years ago.
Mrs. Gregory was born in New Orleans, the daughter of Jean Baptiste Bres, a French settler, and Mrs. Elizabeth Adams Bres, member of the New England Adams family which gave this country two presidents.
She was a lifelong resident of New Orleans, until February of this year, when she went to Paris with her daughter, Miss Angela Gregory, New Orleans sculptress, who was commissioned to do a sculpture of the Bienville statue for the city.
She resided with her daughter at 630 Pine.
Mrs Gregory's activities centered around Tulane and Newcomb and she was one of the founders and first president of the Louisiana Engineering Society, which in 1950 gave an annual scholarship in engineering at Tulane university in her name.
Other interests were in the Red Cross during World War I, Le Petit Salon, the Needlework Guild, several charitable organizations and her church, the First Unitarian church on Jefferson Ave.
Funeral services for Mrs. Gregory will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday (Paris time) in the American church in Paris, and temporary interment will be in Pere Lachaise cemetery, Paris.
Besides her daughter, she is survived by a son, William Bres Gregory, Dallas, Texas; four grandchildren, including Dr. Gregory Stark Ferris of New Orleans, and a great-granddaughter. |
Occupation |
artist; homemaker |
Death |
6 Nov 1953 |
Paris, France |
Notes |
- From Suzanne Ormond, Louisiana's Art Nouveau (p. 152):
"Mrs William Benjamin Gregory was born in New Orleans on January 1, 1870. In 1884 she had her first drawing lesson with Ellsworth Woodward, and was a member of the first class in pottery decoration, which opened at Newcomb in the fall of 1895. In 1896 she was awarded a Diploma in Art. She married William Gregory, at that time a member of the faculty of the College of Engineering, Tulane University, on June 21, 1898, in Newcomb Chapel. President Johnston sent his carriage for the bride."
"In the printed catalog of 1898-99 Selina Bres Gregory is listed as a graduate in normal art; in 1900-01, as a graduate art student; in 1901-2, as graduate in normal art; in 1909-10, as an art craftsman. While at Newcomb, Mrs. Gregory is said to have sold for a private collection the first piece of pottery ever sold. She published the first souvenir postcard in the South, and exhibited often with the New Orleans Art Association and the Arts and Crafts Club, having been an organizer and charter member of the latter.
"Mrs. Gregory was a person of many interests. She studied voice and piano for several years and was soloist for twenty-five years at the First Unitarian Church, along with Clayton Nairne and Armand Kreeger, and she assisted in the first New Orleans Christmas Caroling. She directed a Realization Day kitchen for the first Realization Day of Tulane University for the benefit of the stadium, raising over five thousand dollars in one day. She founded both the Lend-a-Hand Club, an early volunteer teaching organization, and the Louisiana Engineering Society, becoming its first president.
"Her specialty was pottery decoration. She died in Paris, France, on November 6, 1953, and was buried in New Orleans."
|
Person ID |
I4319 |
Last Modified |
30 Dec 2023 |