Leading Fashion Model of the 1940s and 50s. Mary Jane Russell began modeling in New York in 1948 - two years after she married young Navy veteran, Edward Russell. She stood just 5-foot-6, possessed a long neck and classic features that suited the era's elegant mood. She worked for the Ford Agency for 13 years, appearing on the cover of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. In later years, she and her husband were made famous by the recounting of their courtship in "Love Stories of World War II," by CNN talk show host Larry King. Edward Russell had been a cartoonist in high school in Teaneck, New Jersey, where he first met Mary Jane Walton. She told him she like his cartoon character, Itchie; he told her he would marry her. But that was 1943, and soon after school, Edward Russell joined the U.S. Navy. He wrote to Mary Jane during the war, using his cartoon character to woo her. "I felt at ease relating to Itchie," Mary Jane Russell said in article for The (Hilton Head) Island Packet. "I fell in love with the messenger. "The two were married in December 1946. After Mrs. Russell retired from modeling, she became active in zoning and environmental issues in Pound Ridge, New York, where the couple lived for 37 years before moving to Bluffton, South Carolina, near Hilton Head Island. Mary Jane died from pulmonary fibrosis in 2003.
Leading Fashion Model of the 1940s and 50s. Mary Jane Russell began modeling in New York in 1948 - two years after she married young Navy veteran, Edward Russell. She stood just 5-foot-6, possessed a long neck and classic features that suited the era's elegant mood. She worked for the Ford Agency for 13 years, appearing on the cover of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. In later years, she and her husband were made famous by the recounting of their courtship in "Love Stories of World War II," by CNN talk show host Larry King. Edward Russell had been a cartoonist in high school in Teaneck, New Jersey, where he first met Mary Jane Walton. She told him she like his cartoon character, Itchie; he told her he would marry her. But that was 1943, and soon after school, Edward Russell joined the U.S. Navy. He wrote to Mary Jane during the war, using his cartoon character to woo her. "I felt at ease relating to Itchie," Mary Jane Russell said in article for The (Hilton Head) Island Packet. "I fell in love with the messenger. "The two were married in December 1946. After Mrs. Russell retired from modeling, she became active in zoning and environmental issues in Pound Ridge, New York, where the couple lived for 37 years before moving to Bluffton, South Carolina, near Hilton Head Island. Mary Jane died from pulmonary fibrosis in 2003.
Bio by: Noni
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