Friday, October 2, 2009

Latest Addition to O'Connor's Bedroom

Regina O'Connor left a good portion of the furniture and furnishings of her daughter's bedroom/study in place after Flannery O'Connor died in 1964. Mrs. O'Connor returned to the Cline family home in downtown Milledgeville to live the rest of her life, dying in 1995 at the age of 99. Visitors to Andalusia are informed that O'Connor's desk, chair, and typewriter on display in the room are not original because her mother donated those, along with a few other pieces from the house, to Georgia College back in the early 1970s. Some family members and friends received original artifacts as gifts from Mrs. O'Connor after her daughter's death, and some of those generous individuals have given these objects to the Foundation to be placed back in Flannery O'Connor's bedroom. The latest of these gifts is a bronze crucifix, engraved on one side as follows: "FLANNERY FROM THE SISTERS CHRISTMAS 1962" and on the other side: "PER IPSUM ET CUM IPSO ET IN IPSO" (translated: Through Him, and with Him, and in Him). We assume it was a gift from the sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Care hospice center in Atlanta, for whom O'Connor wrote the introduction to A Memoir of Mary Ann (1961). We are very grateful for this valuable artifact, along with the others that have found their way back to Andalusia, thanks to the generosity of our Friends.

Craig

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