Willard Richardson Espy - Oysterville Cemetery, Washington
N 46° 32.874 W 124° 01.988
10T E 420795 N 5155444
Willard Espy was a well known writer, with several titles on the N.Y. Times Best Seller list during his career.
Waymark Code: WMHCGR
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 06/23/2013
Views: 10
Here is a brief bio of Willard Richardson Espy, taken from the "Findagrave.com" website:
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"Willard Espy was one of the best known authors of his time and wrote many books about word play. He had a number of books on the N.Y. Times Best Seller list during his career. He was also a publisher and correspondent for newspapers and magazines during his life.
Willard was born in Olympia, WA. His father was a State Senator who was quite an eloquent speaker that had a big influence on Willard at a young age. Willard grew up in Oysterville, the town his Grandfather, Robert Espy, founded. He dreamed of growing up to become a famous poet.
Willard graduated with a B. A. degree from Univ. of Redlands in CA. in 1930. From there he traveled to France where he was a male model and studied for one year at the Sorbonne in Paris. He then returned to the U.S. in 1932. He worked briefly for a couple of newspapers in CA. In 1933 he ventured off to N.Y. where he worked as an assistant newspaper editor and correspondent for two different newspapers. That same year he married Ann Hathaway with whom he had one child. That marriage later ended in divorce. In 1940 Willard remarried to Hilda Cole with whom he had 5 children. Hilda had been an editor of Woman's Day magazine and also wrote stories for other magazines. She later in life wrote a couple books herself. From 1941 to 1957 Willard was manager of promotions and public relations of Reader's Digest when he interviewed such influential people of his day as Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill for essays to publish. From 1952 to 1953 Willard had a radio program where he interviewed Marilyn Monroe, Boris Karloff, and other famous people of that time.
Willard's marriage to Hilda Cole ended in divorce and he later remarried for the third time to Louise Manheim in 1962. Louise was a wonderful person and wife and Willard's career as a writer flourished during his marriage to her. One of his most well known books was titled "Oysterville, Road's to Grandpa's Village" (1977) which was an autobiography of his life. Willard lived most of his adult life in N.Y. though he loved Oysterville, WA where he grew up dearly and split time between there and N.Y. He died of cancer in N.Y. in 1999."
(created by Jason Presley)
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Some of his works were:
*The Game of Words (1971)
*Oysterville – Roads to Grandpa's Village (1976)
*The Game of Words (1972)
*Omak Me Yours Tonight, or, Ilwaco million miles for one of your smiles: A Ballard of Washington State (1973)
*An Almanac of Words at Play (1975)
*The Life and Works of Mr. Anonymous (1977)
*O Thou Improper, Thou Uncommon Noun (1978)
*Say it My Way: How to avoid certain pitfalls of spoken English together with a decidedly informal history of how our language rose (or fell) (1980)
*Another Almanac of Words at Play (1981)
*The Wars of the Words (1980)
*A Children's Almanac of Words at Play (1982)
*Have A Word on Me: A Celebration of Language (1984)
*Espygrams: Anagram Verse (1982)
*Word Puzzles: Anagrams from America's Favorite Logophile (1983)
*The Garden of Eloquence: A Rhetorical Bestiary (1983)
*Espygrams II: 80 New Anagram Verses (1984)
*Words to Rhyme With (1986)
*The Word's Gotten Out (1989)
*Skullduggery on Shoalwater Bay (1998)
*The Best of An Almanac of Words at Play (1999)
Description:
Willard Espy was a very well known writer in the 1970s-1990s.
Date of birth: 12/11/1910
Date of death: 02/20/1999
Area of notoriety: Literature
Marker Type: Headstone
Setting: Outdoor
Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Daylight hours please
Fee required?: No
Web site: [Web Link]
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