Lucretia del Valle Grady

File:LucretiadelValle1914.tif

Lucretia Louise del Valle was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Reginaldo Francisco del Valle and Helen May White del Valle. Her father, a California state senator, owned Rancho Camulos. Her grandparents Ygnacio del Valle and Ysabel del Valle owned much of the Santa Clarita Valley.[https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2759.htm "Lucretia del Valle Grady Christens S.S. President Cleveland"] SCVHistory.com.

Beginning in 1912,Kenneth H. Marcus, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xUHHAAAAQBAJ&dq=Lucretia+del+Valle&pg=PA93 Musical Metropolis: Los Angeles and the Creation of a Music Culture, 1880-1940] (Springer 2004): 93. {{ISBN|9781403978363}} Lucretia del Valle starred as Doña Josefa YorbaChelsea K. Vaughn, [https://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/v57-4/v57-4vaughn2.pdf "The Joining of Historical Fantasy and the Spanish Fantasy Past: The Meeting of Señora Josefa Yorba and Lucretia del Valle"] Journal of San Diego History 57(4)(2011): 213-235. in about 850 shows of a popular outdoor pageant at Mission San Gabriel, The Mission Play.Clara M. Greening, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wCULAAAAIAAJ&dq=Lucretia+del+Valle&pg=PA121 "Lucretia del Valle: A Daughter of the Dons"] Sunset: The Pacific Monthly (July 1914): 120-122. A large painting of del Valle in this role, Guy Rose's The Leading Lady (1914), hangs at the San Diego History Center, in Balboa Park.[http://www.sandiegohistory.org/press/5818/ "'Leading Lady' Plays Key Role in our History"] San Diego History Center (press release). Also in 1912, she appeared in The Landslide, a contemporary drama by Austin Adams, which ran in Los Angeles.Mila Tupper Maynard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j8MsAQAAMAAJ&dq=Lucretia+del+Valle&pg=PA18-IA60 "A Socialist Play: The Landslide"] The Coming Nation (December 7, 1912): 9.[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/160216179/42A22FBCC7544CAPQ/2 "Blithe Lady Vision-Maker"] Los Angeles Times (September 26, 1915): III19.

File:Henry F.Grady and his wife arriving India as US Ambassador in 1949.jpg, 1949.]]

Del Valle left acting for political work, first with her father, and then with her husband, but also in her own right.Maggie Perkins, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vpujtcNfNocC&dq=Lucretia+del+Valle+Grady&pg=PA78 Newhall] (Arcadia Publishing 2010): 78. {{ISBN|9780738580258}} Lucretia del Valle Grady was a California delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1928, 1936, 1940, and 1956. She was vice chair of the Democratic National Committee in 1937, when her husband Henry Grady became assistant Secretary of State,Henry Francis Grady, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7BKTLX0mppoC&dq=Lucretia+del+Valle+Grady&pg=PT20 The Memoirs of Ambassador Henry F. Grady: From the Great War to the Cold War] (University of Missouri Press 2009): 10. {{ISBN|9780826271877}} and the couple moved to Washington D. C.Hope Ridings Miller, [https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/151154298/6644C27D98BB4AD3PQ/7 "Mrs. Henry F. Grady Is Dynamic, Vivacious: Wife of New Assistant Secretary of State War Born Lucretia del Valle, of Old California Family; Her Fame Is Wide Here"] Washington Post (August 3, 1939): 12.

In 1946, she christened the S. S. President Cleveland, a large passenger liner. She was active as a diplomat's wife when Henry Grady became the first United States Ambassador to the newly independent India in 1947.[https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw3106.htm "First U. S. Ambassador Arrives in India"] (International News Photo caption, June 30, 1947). Henry Grady was ambassador to Greece in 1948, where Lucretia became the first woman named an honorary citizen of Athens;[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/148211571/6644C27D98BB4AD3PQ/3 "Lucretia Grady, Democratic Party Aide; Twice Seconded FDR Nominations"] The Washington Post and Times-Herald (May 25, 1972): B6. and in 1950 the couple were in Iran, where Lucretia Grady promoted women's rights, including suffrage.[https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2887.htm "Lucretia del Valle Grady Promotes Women's Suffrage in Iran, 1950"] (Associated Press, September 13, 1950).

Lucretia del Valle married economist and shipping magnate Henry Francis Grady in 1917. They had four children;Alma Whitaker, [https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/163218074/6644C27D98BB4AD3PQ/4 "Mrs. Lucretia Grady Hailed on Visit Before Going East"] Los Angeles Times (July 8, 1934): B1. their daughter Patricia Louise Grady married diplomat John Paton Davies, Jr. Lucretia Grady was widowed in 1957, and died in 1972, aged 79 years, in San Mateo, California, from a heart attack.[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/157061580/6644C27D98BB4AD3PQ/10 "Mrs. Grady, Widow of U. S. Diplomat, Dies"] Los Angeles Times (May 24, 1972): b3.

Del Valle Avenue in Glendale, California is named for Lucretia del Valle Grady.Katherine Yamada, [http://www.latimes.com/tn-gnp-0306-yamada-story.html "Street Named for Actress and Member of Illustrious Family"] Los Angeles Times (March 4, 2011). Some of her papers and photographs are in the Forster-del Valle Family Papers, at the University of California Irvine.Manuel Escamilla, [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0j49r6vt/entire_text/ Guide to the Forster-del Valle Family Papers MS.R.048] (UCI Libraries).

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• [http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/13068 A photograph of Lucretia del Valle Grady], in the California Historical Society Collections at the University of Southern California Library.

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Category:1892 births

Category:Californios

Category:1972 deaths

Category:American actresses

Category:20th-century American women

Category:California Democrats

Category:Politicians from Greater Los Angeles

Category:Democratic National Committee people

Category:20th-century California politicians