DOWD's Mother Dies at 97 (on 7-17)

[UTUSN]

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/20/AR2005072002279.html

Margaret Dowd, 97; Font of Advice


Thursday, July 21, 2005; Page B08


Margaret Meenehan Dowd, 97, a longtime Washington resident who became a familiar character to readers of her daughter's newspaper column, died of kidney failure July 17 at her home in Chevy Chase. ....

As a girl, she saw the last of the Civil War veterans marching in Memorial Day parades in downtown Washington, and as an adult, she made friends with a neighbor named Pop Seymour, who, as a 5-year-old, was at Ford's Theatre the night Lincoln was shot.

Mrs. Dowd had vivid memories of Jan. 28, 1922, when the roof of the Knickerbocker movie theater collapsed under the snow. "Ninety-eight people died watching a George M. Cohan comedy," she said. "A girl in my class, the brightest one, was killed." ....

She met Jack Kennedy at a Capitol Hill cocktail party ("He was very attractive, coppery hair") and shared an elevator with J. Edgar Hoover. "I never believed he wore dresses," she said. "He looked very masculine."

One of her biggest thrills came at the White House Christmas party in 1990, when President George H.W. Bush leaned over to give her a kiss in the receiving line.

On the way home, she instructed her daughter, then a White House reporter, in a steely voice: "I don't ever want you to be mean to that man again." ....

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[ComerPerro]

1. Good stories. Sorry to hear of Maureen Dowd's loss

She met Jack Kennedy at a Capitol Hill cocktail party ("He was very attractive, coppery hair") and shared an elevator with J. Edgar Hoover. "I never believed he wore dresses," she said. "He looked very masculine."

[theboss]

2. What an interesting life....

In DC, a long-time resident is someone who has been here since the '80s.