Joanna Sturm
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Joanna Mercedes Alessandra Sturm (born July 1946), Roosevelt family member and historian as well as philanthropist, is the great granddaughter of 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and the granddaughter of TR's daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Sturm is the daughter of Alexander McCormick Sturm and his wife Paulina Longworth. Joanna Sturm remains one of the few living Roosevelt family members who were an eye-witnesses to and participants in Alice Roosevelt Longworth's long and extraordinary life.
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[edit] Family background
Joanna's great grandfather on her mother's side was Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President. Her mother was Paulina Longworth Sturm, the only daughter of Theodore's daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Alice's husband, US Speaker of the House, Nicholas Longworth of Ohio.
In 1944, while helping her mother Alice, campaign against their distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joana's mother, Paulina had met Alexander McCormick Sturm, known as "Alex" to the family and "Sandy," to friends. They married on August 26, 1944, when Paulina was nineteen. Paulina Longworth's (aka Paulina Sturm) already strained relationship with her mother was heightened by her marriage to Sturm.
[edit] Childhood
Paulina's only daughter, Joanna, was born in July 1946. In 1951, Joanna's father, Sandy Sturm, died of hepatitis. Widowhood plunged Paulina deeper into depression and drug dependency, and she sought spiritual guidance. In 1952, she joined Dorothy Day's Chrystie Street hospitality house on New York's Lower East Side. She also volunteered at several Washington, D.C. hospitals. Paulina and Joanna converted to Roman Catholicism in 1953.
In early 1957, Paulina succumbed to an overdose of sleeping pills. Though the autopsy noted her death as accidental, it was reported in the Washington Post that Paulina committed suicide (they later printed a retraction.) Paulina's mother, Alice Roosevelt Longworth maintained that Paulina's death was an accident brought on by the effects of Alcohol and sleeping pills. This was supported by the fact that Paulina was a recently converted and very devout Catholic. At Paulina's funeral, Vice President Richard Nixon was a pallbearer.Upon Paulina's death, her mother's cousin Eleanor Roosevelt sent condolences and the two women mended their broken relationship.
[edit] Alice Roosevelt Longworth takes custody of Joanna Sturm
Following Paulina's death, Paulina's mother Alice Roosevelt Longworth won custody of Joanna, whom she raised. Unlike her relationship with her daughter, Mrs. Longworth doted on her granddaughter and the two were very close.
In an article in American Heritage Magazine in 1969, Joanna was described as a "highly attractive and intellectual twenty-two-year-old" and was called "a notable contributor to Mrs. Longworth’s youthfulness." Whether discussing the famous Roman Catholic medieval theologian, St.Augustine or what the article described as "the fine points of horsemanship — it is often the older woman who is the less inhibited and the more opinionated. The bonds between them are twin cables of devotion and a healthy respect for each other’s tongue. 'Mrs. L.,' says a friend, 'has been a wonderful father and mother to Joanna: mostly father.'" [1]
[edit] Education
After Joanna's mother, Paulina's death in 1957, her grandmother, Alice honored Paulina's request that Joanna receive a Catholic education and enrolled her at Stone Ridge, the Sacred Heart day school in Bethesda, Maryland where she graduated in 1964. Upon graduation, Joanna attended Newton College in Newton, Massachusetts. Joanna later did graduate work at Georgetown University.
[edit] Contributions to the Roosevelts of Oyster Bay history
In the past thirty years, no less than twenty major books have been written about TR and his children. In the past thirty years, no less than six books have been written about Alice Roosevelt. In virtually every major work on either of these Roosevelts, Sturm has been a significant cited resource.
In the 21st Century, Sturm remains the one of the most valuable living historic resources on Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Joanna was an eye witness of the famous "Mrs. L" parties in Washington that included all the leading Washington, DC society and a succession of US Presidents including Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and key political and business figures such as Henry Kissinger and others. Sturm assisted her grandmother with these social events.
In many ways, Joanna was the connecting link in Alice's life from the early 20th Century to American society of the last quarter of that same Century. Joanna made significant contributions to both the last 1/4 of Alice's life and the recording of Alice's story. Joanna was the main facilitator of Alice's famous interviews with Michael Teague over a period of more than five years that formed the basis of his book, Conversations with Mrs. L., a far more insightful autobiography than Alice's earlier book, Crowded Hours, published in the 1930s. With a young grandchild in her twenties, Joanna by her side, Alice could say confidently, "I've always believed in the adage that the secret to eternal youth is arrested development."
Sturm was also the chief facilitator of Alice being able to finish these important historic interviews and, by her constant support of her grandmother, Joanna, literally prolonged her life into her mid-90s. Without Joanna, it is highly unlikely, given Alice's cancer, emphysema, and other health issue, that she would lived as long as she did. Joanna did all she could do to keep Alice mentally active, even pleading with friends to visit Alice when they were uncomfortable with her deteriorating condition.
Joanna continues to have a window into the Roosevelt family that only a handful of living Roosevelt family members have. Joanna Sturm has provided historical information and insights into the world of the Roosevelts of Hyde Park and Oyster Bay to virtually every Roosevelt biographer of the last thirty years and she is credited by almost every professional TR biographer since 1970. In the interest of preserving Alice's recollections, Joanna, herself, made two oral history recordings of her that are now in the Library of Congress.
Joanna's daughter, Alice Roosevelt Sturm, attended Sidwell Friends School and now attends Columbia University in the City of New York.
[edit] Philanthropic Activities
Joanna is a contributor to charitable organizations including conservation and other like-minded groups in keeping with her great grandfather's devotion to the preservation of natural resources. Causes as diverse as the International Crane Foundation (Wisconsin), endangered bats, the Dogwood Alliance, the Sierra Club, the Washington Zoo and many other organizations have benefited from her largesse.
[edit] Notes
[edit] See also
- Paulina Longworth Joanna's mother
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth Joanna's grandmother
- Nicholas Longworth Joanna's grandfather
- Sandy Sturm Joanna's father
[edit] External links
- http://www.booknotes.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1514 CSPAN "Book Notes" May 9, 1999 Interview with "Roosevelt Women" author Betty Boyd Caroli in which Caroli discusses Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Joanna Sturm's recollections of her.
