Edwards - Diana of the Dunes

DIANA
of the
DUNES

DIANA
of the
DUNES

T H E T R U E S T O R Y
of Alice Gray

JANET ZENKE EDWARDS

Published by The History Press
Charleston, SC 29403
www.historypress.net

Copyright 2010 by Janet Zenke Edwards
All rights reserved

Front cover images: Map, Westchester Township History Museum; photo of Alice Gray, Chicago History Museum; and etching, Earl H. Reeds Voices of the Dunes, Westchester Township History Museum.

First published 2010
e-book edition 2011

ISBN 978.1.61423.046.5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Edwards, Janet Zenke.
Diana of the Dunes : the true story of Alice Gray / Janet Zenke Edwards.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.
print edition: ISBN 978-1-59629-977-1
1. Gray, Alice, 1881-1925. 2. Gray, Alice, 1881-1925--Legends. 3. Gray, Alice,
1881-1925--Relations with men. 4. Wilson, Paul, d. 1941. 5. Indiana Dunes State Park
(Ind.)--History. 6. Indiana Dunes State Park (Ind.)--Biography. 7. Indiana Dunes State Park
(Ind.)--History. 8. Women--Indiana--Indiana Dunes State Park--Biography. 9. Women
hermits--Indiana--Indiana Dunes State Park--Biography. I. Title.
F532.I5E34 2010
977.298--dc22
2010020421

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

With love to David, Sarah and Anna
The next generation of Dunes storytellers

Contents

Foreword

Over the past thirty-five years, many would-be biographers of the legendary Diana of the Dunes have visited Westchester Public Library and the Westchester Township History Museum in Chesterton, Indiana, in search of clues to unlock the mystery of Alice Grays retreat to a secluded life in the Indiana dunes.

Janet Edwards is the only one of all those writers who has been able to overcome the frustrations of the search for Diana. In so doing, she has breathed new life into the story of a woman born before her time; a woman we can identify with and yet still not fully understand.

Janets book is the result of more than ten years of meticulous research. She has read hundreds of dusty, crumbling newspaper articles; interviewed those who remembered meeting Alice or hearing family stories about her; and unearthed a wealth of primary resources relating to Alice and her family.

Sifting facts from the fiction, falsehood and legend that were Alices legacy, Janet has produced the first authoritative and fully documented biography of Alice Gray ever written. It answers questions about her life that have puzzled historians since her death and lays to rest misinformation that continues to circulate about her.

It has been our privilege to open our archives to Janet Edwards. We have been impressed with the dedication she has brought to her search for the real woman behind the Diana of the Dunes myth and with her insights into the life of Alice Gray. We are indeed proud to have played a small part in the creation of this timely and important book and enthusiastically recommend it to the reading public.

Eva Hopkins, researcher
Jane Walsh-Brown, curator
Westchester Township History Museum, an educational service of
Westchester Public Library
Chesterton, Indiana
http://www.wpl.lib.in.us/museum

Acknowledgements

An amazing amount of collaboration and collective wisdom helped fill the pages of this book. In the ten years spent researching and writing it, Ive met and worked with wonderful people who generously shared their knowledge, time and support. I cannot thank them enough, but I plan to keep at it.

First and foremost, I remember my grandmother, the late Gertrude Mary Cox, who, along with her husband, the Reverend Clinton C. Cox, bought property on Porter Beach in Porter, Indiana, in the heart of dunes country. That was during the 1950s, when they lived in Chicago. Because Grandma Cox fell in love with the dunes, Ive been privileged to spend my summers in a cottage filled with family and friends, standing on the beach and marveling at the same glorious horizon as Alice Gray, traipsing through the woods and cherishing both the beauty and power of Lake Michigan. It is an extraordinary and wonderful legacy that Grandma Cox left to my family.

Much love and thanks to my parents for their participation in this project. The book idea would not have achieved traction without significant help from Beverly Zenke, my mother. The research effort was kept afloat by her endless encouragement, expertise in the world of genealogy and incredible tenacity. Many times, when I thought wed hit the proverbial brick wall of documentation, she charged right through it. We supplanted e-mails about family news with e-mails about Alice and her family (my favorite subject header: GUESS WHAT!!). When my mother e-mailed late one night to tell me she had goose bumps from the days excitement of holding documents with original Gray-family handwriting, I knew our hearts were traveling together in the same (long-ago) place.

Ronald Zenke, my father, is also to be commendedfor his constant love and encouragement, no matter what I endeavor, but especially for chauffeuring his wife back and forth to the National Archives and other library facilities rich with research about Alice and about our own family.

Eva Hopkins, historian and researcher extraordinaire at the Westchester Township History Museum, is a veritable font of local knowledgenot to mention an excellent sleuth. Whether its people, photographs, maps, locations, dates, websites or little-known, yet valuable, historical resources, Eva connects the dots in a way that no one else can. She is patient, willing to go off on research tangents for the fun of it, eager to help and seemingly available twenty-fourseven. Toward the end of this project, our after-hours e-mail exchanges kept me writing and digging for yet another vein of truth.

Likewise, Jane Walsh-Brown, curator of the Westchester Township History Museum, has been a great research help and fine editor. Eva and Jane, with fellow museum staff members Joan Costello (another excellent editor) and LuAnne DePriest, are, in fact, an Olympic history team. I urge you to visit the museum; they curate wonderful exhibits on a wide range of regional history topics, in between answering questions from a steady stream of researchers.

Steve McShane, archivist and curator for the Calumet Regional Archives at Indiana University Northwest Library, has provided much-needed insight about researching and has supplied valuable resources over the years.

The reference sections of various libraries were always helpful, and I regret that I did not collect the names of those Id wish to thank personally. I am especially fond of the following Indiana libraries: Westchester Public Library in Chesterton, Lake County Public Library in Merrillville, Michigan City Public Library in Michigan City and Valparaiso Public Library in Valparaiso. In Chicago, Ive enjoyed getting lost in research at the Harold Washington Library Center, the Joseph Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago and the Chicago History Museum (formerly the Chicago Historical Society). For those of you who worked the reference desks at the aforementioned libraries sometime between 2000 and now, I am indebted to your help in learning how to work microfiche machines, tracking down research sources and asking direct questions. The information you provided via e-mail, telephone and in person is greatly appreciated.