Mrs Mini Rhea was Jacqueline Kennedy's dressmaker and she authored several books some include "I was Jacqueline Kennedy's dressmaker", "Sew Simply, Sew Right", and a book of poetry "Magic Moments". She first told her story to Frances Spatz Leighton and was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, dated Mar 4, 1961, page 67, "The start of the "Jackie-Look".
A partial obituary from the Washington Post in October 2, 1998:
"Mini Rhea Calder, 86, a custom dress designer who made clothes for women of Washington's high society and wrote "I Was Jacqueline Kennedy's Dressmaker," died Sept. 23 at a hospital in Magee, Miss. She had Parkinson's disease.
A self-taught designer, Mrs. Calder came to Washington from her native Mississippi in 1947 and thereafter began altering dresses in the back room of a dry-cleaning business in Georgetown. There, her impressive needlework came to the attention of Mrs. Kennedy. Out of her home in Washington, Mrs. Calder designed clothes for Mrs. Kennedy and others from the late 1940s until she joined a clothier in Duluth, Minnesota."
Her birth name appears to have been Minnie Rachel Sells.
"One of the loveliest weddings of the fall was that of Miss Minnie Rae Sells to Mr. James Grantly Faulk, which was solemnized in the Port Gibson Methodist church, Tuesday evening at 6 o'clock." Source: Clarion-Ledger, 21 Oct 1933, Sat, Page 7
A partial obituary from the Washington Post in October 2, 1998:
"Mini Rhea Calder, 86, a custom dress designer who made clothes for women of Washington's high society and wrote "I Was Jacqueline Kennedy's Dressmaker," died Sept. 23 at a hospital in Magee, Miss. She had Parkinson's disease.
A self-taught designer, Mrs. Calder came to Washington from her native Mississippi in 1947 and thereafter began altering dresses in the back room of a dry-cleaning business in Georgetown. There, her impressive needlework came to the attention of Mrs. Kennedy. Out of her home in Washington, Mrs. Calder designed clothes for Mrs. Kennedy and others from the late 1940s until she joined a clothier in Duluth, Minnesota."
Her birth name appears to have been Minnie Rachel Sells.
"One of the loveliest weddings of the fall was that of Miss Minnie Rae Sells to Mr. James Grantly Faulk, which was solemnized in the Port Gibson Methodist church, Tuesday evening at 6 o'clock." Source: Clarion-Ledger, 21 Oct 1933, Sat, Page 7
Mrs Mini Rhea was Jacqueline Kennedy's dressmaker and she authored several books some include "I was Jacqueline Kennedy's dressmaker", "Sew Simply, Sew Right", and a book of poetry "Magic Moments". She first told her story to Frances Spatz Leighton and was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, dated Mar 4, 1961, page 67, "The start of the "Jackie-Look".
A partial obituary from the Washington Post in October 2, 1998:
"Mini Rhea Calder, 86, a custom dress designer who made clothes for women of Washington's high society and wrote "I Was Jacqueline Kennedy's Dressmaker," died Sept. 23 at a hospital in Magee, Miss. She had Parkinson's disease.
A self-taught designer, Mrs. Calder came to Washington from her native Mississippi in 1947 and thereafter began altering dresses in the back room of a dry-cleaning business in Georgetown. There, her impressive needlework came to the attention of Mrs. Kennedy. Out of her home in Washington, Mrs. Calder designed clothes for Mrs. Kennedy and others from the late 1940s until she joined a clothier in Duluth, Minnesota."
Her birth name appears to have been Minnie Rachel Sells.
"One of the loveliest weddings of the fall was that of Miss Minnie Rae Sells to Mr. James Grantly Faulk, which was solemnized in the Port Gibson Methodist church, Tuesday evening at 6 o'clock." Source: Clarion-Ledger, 21 Oct 1933, Sat, Page 7
A partial obituary from the Washington Post in October 2, 1998:
"Mini Rhea Calder, 86, a custom dress designer who made clothes for women of Washington's high society and wrote "I Was Jacqueline Kennedy's Dressmaker," died Sept. 23 at a hospital in Magee, Miss. She had Parkinson's disease.
A self-taught designer, Mrs. Calder came to Washington from her native Mississippi in 1947 and thereafter began altering dresses in the back room of a dry-cleaning business in Georgetown. There, her impressive needlework came to the attention of Mrs. Kennedy. Out of her home in Washington, Mrs. Calder designed clothes for Mrs. Kennedy and others from the late 1940s until she joined a clothier in Duluth, Minnesota."
Her birth name appears to have been Minnie Rachel Sells.
"One of the loveliest weddings of the fall was that of Miss Minnie Rae Sells to Mr. James Grantly Faulk, which was solemnized in the Port Gibson Methodist church, Tuesday evening at 6 o'clock." Source: Clarion-Ledger, 21 Oct 1933, Sat, Page 7
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Mini Rhea Sells Calder
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Parent & Spouse Links by omcnair (#47822980); Birth Location by Wayne Coskrey (#48193231)
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