Age 103 - Daughter of Willis Lawrence Hadley and Salley Gertrude Crawford Hadley.
Born in Urbana, Arkansas.
Gertrude grew up on a farm with five brothers and one sister.
On her prom night, she met her future husband, Joe Jeannette, a heavyweight prizefighter 35 years her senior, who was in town from New York. By the end of the song, he had asked her to marry him. They eloped in 1933. He died in 1956.
Gertrude was a member of the 1940's American Negro Theatre (ANT) in Harlem, co-founded by Abram Hill and Frederick O'Neal. Other members in ANT included Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Clarice Taylor, Earl Hyman, Rosetta Lenoire, Roger Furman and others.
In 1979 she founded The H.A.D.L.E.Y. PLAYERS (Harlem Artist’s Development League Especially for You) in answer to the need for emerging and professional artists, playwrights and directors of color to develop their skills in the theatre, and to enrich the cultural life in the Harlem community.
Her husband, Joe, died in 1956. only son, Robert, born in 1935, died at age 5.
She is survived by a legacy of cousins, 10 nephews and 6 nieces, including her niece, Angela Hadley Brown, and an extended family of friends.
Born in Urbana, Arkansas.
Gertrude grew up on a farm with five brothers and one sister.
On her prom night, she met her future husband, Joe Jeannette, a heavyweight prizefighter 35 years her senior, who was in town from New York. By the end of the song, he had asked her to marry him. They eloped in 1933. He died in 1956.
Gertrude was a member of the 1940's American Negro Theatre (ANT) in Harlem, co-founded by Abram Hill and Frederick O'Neal. Other members in ANT included Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Clarice Taylor, Earl Hyman, Rosetta Lenoire, Roger Furman and others.
In 1979 she founded The H.A.D.L.E.Y. PLAYERS (Harlem Artist’s Development League Especially for You) in answer to the need for emerging and professional artists, playwrights and directors of color to develop their skills in the theatre, and to enrich the cultural life in the Harlem community.
Her husband, Joe, died in 1956. only son, Robert, born in 1935, died at age 5.
She is survived by a legacy of cousins, 10 nephews and 6 nieces, including her niece, Angela Hadley Brown, and an extended family of friends.
Age 103 - Daughter of Willis Lawrence Hadley and Salley Gertrude Crawford Hadley.
Born in Urbana, Arkansas.
Gertrude grew up on a farm with five brothers and one sister.
On her prom night, she met her future husband, Joe Jeannette, a heavyweight prizefighter 35 years her senior, who was in town from New York. By the end of the song, he had asked her to marry him. They eloped in 1933. He died in 1956.
Gertrude was a member of the 1940's American Negro Theatre (ANT) in Harlem, co-founded by Abram Hill and Frederick O'Neal. Other members in ANT included Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Clarice Taylor, Earl Hyman, Rosetta Lenoire, Roger Furman and others.
In 1979 she founded The H.A.D.L.E.Y. PLAYERS (Harlem Artist’s Development League Especially for You) in answer to the need for emerging and professional artists, playwrights and directors of color to develop their skills in the theatre, and to enrich the cultural life in the Harlem community.
Her husband, Joe, died in 1956. only son, Robert, born in 1935, died at age 5.
She is survived by a legacy of cousins, 10 nephews and 6 nieces, including her niece, Angela Hadley Brown, and an extended family of friends.
Born in Urbana, Arkansas.
Gertrude grew up on a farm with five brothers and one sister.
On her prom night, she met her future husband, Joe Jeannette, a heavyweight prizefighter 35 years her senior, who was in town from New York. By the end of the song, he had asked her to marry him. They eloped in 1933. He died in 1956.
Gertrude was a member of the 1940's American Negro Theatre (ANT) in Harlem, co-founded by Abram Hill and Frederick O'Neal. Other members in ANT included Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Clarice Taylor, Earl Hyman, Rosetta Lenoire, Roger Furman and others.
In 1979 she founded The H.A.D.L.E.Y. PLAYERS (Harlem Artist’s Development League Especially for You) in answer to the need for emerging and professional artists, playwrights and directors of color to develop their skills in the theatre, and to enrich the cultural life in the Harlem community.
Her husband, Joe, died in 1956. only son, Robert, born in 1935, died at age 5.
She is survived by a legacy of cousins, 10 nephews and 6 nieces, including her niece, Angela Hadley Brown, and an extended family of friends.
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