Mariquita Platov Explained

Mariquita Platov
Birth Name:Mariquita Serrano Villard
Birth Date:5 June 1905
Birth Place:New York City, U.S.
Death Place:Philmont, New York, U.S.
Education:Brearley School
Alma Mater:Bryn Mawr College
Relatives:William Lloyd Garrison (great-grandfather)
Mary J. Serrano (grandmother)
Fanny Garrison Villard (grandmother)
Oswald Garrison Villard (uncle)
Vincent Serrano (uncle)
Henry Serrano Villard (brother)
Fred Keating (first cousin)
Oswald Garrison Villard Jr. (first cousin)

Mariquita Serrano Villard Platov (June 5, 1905 – December 14, 2000) was an American writer, artist, educator, and pacifist, and a co-founder of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship.

Early life and education

Mariquita Serrano Villard was born in New York City, the daughter of railroad executive Harold Garrison Villard and Mariquita Serrano Villard, and the younger sister of ambassador Henry Serrano Villard. Her mother was born in Costa Rica. Her paternal grandmother was suffragist Fanny Garrison Villard, and her great-grandfather was abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Her maternal grandmother was Irish-born translator Mary J. Serrano. Her uncles included actor Vincent Serrano and editor Oswald Garrison Villard. She graduated from the Brearley School, and from Bryn Mawr College in 1927.[1] [2]

Career

After college and a broken marriage engagement, Villard traveled in Europe with her mother, and was moved by the plight of Russian Orthodox Christians in Stalin's Soviet Union. In the 1930s, she became an Orthodox Christian. She taught school in New Jersey and in Boston in the 1950s.[3] She was poetry editor of an Orthodox children's magazine. She joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1962, and co-founded the Orthodox Peace Fellowship in the mid-1960s.[4] [5] In 1969, she was part of a small group of protesters held for questioning after they tried to distribute leaflets at West Point.[6] In 1973 she was surprised to be mentioned in connection with Richard Nixon's "enemies list", saying "I don't have an enemy in the world. Even Mr. Nixon is not an enemy of mine."[7]

Platov studied Buddhism with Sokei-an at the Buddhist Society of America.[8] She was a founding member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship in 1979.[9] In her later years she exhibited her prints and lithographs,[10] and gave poetry readings in the Catskills.[11] [12] She also placed anti-war advertisements in the local newspaper.[13]

In 1976, her musical play The Light of the Octave premiered at the Sonora Music Festival at Lexington House in Lexington, NY, with a cast that included Judith Martin, Mark Groubert, Julius Eastman and Jani Brenn. A year later, in June 1977, her play Who Invented Zero? was read at Sonora House in Haines Falls, NY, and on August 8, 1977, Lazarus' Cue premiered at Lexington Conservatory Theatre. The production was directed by Mary Hall with actors Steven Rotblatt, Kristin Joliff, Mary Baird, and Sands Hall.[14]

Publications

Personal life

Platov, known as "Quita" to her friends, was engaged to marry Louis Warren Hill Jr., grandson of financier James J. Hill, in 1927, but they broke their engagement in 1928.[29] [30] She married Henry Boris Platov in 1937; they divorced in 1950.[31] In 1962, she moved to a cabin on the mountaintop in East Jewett, where she lived "a hermit's life". She died in 2000, at the age of 95, in Philmont, New York.[32]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Bryn Mawr College, Class of 1927 (1927 yearbook). via Internet Archive
  2. News: 1927-12-17 . Romance of Great Railroads in Troth Of Mariquita Villard and L. W. Hill Jr. . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-05-10 . 0362-4331.
  3. News: May 4, 1958 . Metlars Lane Dwelling Sold by Schoolteacher . 30 . The Central New Jersey Home News . May 10, 2023 . Newspapers.com.
  4. Web site: Amanda Verdery Young . Mariquita Platov . 2023-05-10 . Women In Peace . en-US.
  5. Forest, Jim. (2003) "The History and Mission of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship" In Communion.
  6. News: March 19, 1969 . 8 Questioned at West Point . 13 . The Journal-News . May 10, 2023 . Newspapers.com.
  7. News: December 21, 1973 . Harold Hochschild is 'flattered' to be on enemies list . 1 . Saranac Lake Adirondack Daily Enterprise . May 11, 2023 . Newspapers.com.
  8. Book: Stirling, Isabel . The Life and Works of Ruth Fuller Sasaki, Zen Pioneer . Shoemaker & Hoard . 2006 . 28.
  9. Baroni, Helen J. (March 2014). "The System Stinks: Sources of Inspiration for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship", paper presented at the Numata Conference in Buddhist Studies, University of Hawai'i at Manoa; 8.
  10. News: January 28, 1977 . Greene Co. Arts Group Slates Show at Gallery . 8 . Altamont Enterprise and Albany County Post . May 11, 2023 . NewspaperArchive.com.
  11. News: April 12, 1965 . Music Program is Given by Society . 21 . The Kingston Daily Freeman . May 10, 2023 . Newspapers.com.
  12. News: January 15, 1983 . First in a series of poetry readings slated at Catskill Gallery Saturday . 34 . Poughkeepsie Journal . May 10, 2023 . Newspapers.com.
  13. News: Platov . Mariquita . February 13, 1971 . How to Bring the POWs Home (advertisement) . 18 . The Kingston Daily Freeman . May 10, 2023 . Newspapers.com.
  14. Book: Platov . Mariquita . Lazarus' cue, and other one-act plays . 1980 . Dan River Press . Stafford, VA . 0-89754-012-3 .
  15. Villard . Mariquita . July 1935 . Forest Song . American Foreign Service Journal . 12 . 7 . 405.
  16. News: Platov . Mariquita . January 2, 1960 . To a Baby . 21 . The Tablet . May 10, 2023 . Newspapers.com.
  17. Book: Mariquita Platov . A christmas candle . 1962 . Torquil & Co. .
  18. Platov, Mariquita. "Morris Milgram and his Mission." Fellowship 34, no. 3 (1968): 24.
  19. Platov, M., 1971. One Moment: An Easter Meditation, Thirty-six Sonnet Variations on a Paschal Theme. Plowshare Press.
  20. Platov . Mariquita . March–April 1973 . Peacemaking Challenge of Today . WR News . 2.
  21. Book: Platov, Mariquita . Parable and Number: Essays and Poems . 1973 . Institute for Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies . 978-0-914744-25-2 . en.
  22. Book: Platov, Mariquita . From the Herb Garden of a Christian Buddhist . 1973 . Cambridge Buddhist Association . en.
  23. Platov . Mariquita . January 1974 . Some Thoughts Concerning Mary . The Word Magazine . 4 . Al Moutran.
  24. Platov, Mariquita. "Simplicity Begins with Unity." Fellowship 40, no. 4 (1974): 17.
  25. Book: Alternatives in print 1977-78 : catalogue of social change publications . 1977 . San Francisco . New Glide . 978-0-912078-49-6 . 127.
  26. Platov, Mariquita. "Haitian Boat People Need US Asylum." Fellowship 45, no. 3 (1979): 19.
  27. Book: None . Anthology of magazine verse and yearbook of American poetry . 1980 . Beverly Hills, Calif. . Monitor Book Co. . 978-0-917734-04-5 . 325.
  28. Book: Platov . Mariquita . Lazarus' Cue, and Other One-Act Plays . 1980 . Dan River Press . Stafford, VA . 0-89754-012-3 .
  29. July 2, 1928 . Milestones . Time Magazine . 12 . 1.
  30. News: 1928-06-23 . Their Betrothal Broken; Miss Mariquita Villard and Louis W. Hill Jr. Are Not to Wed . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-05-11 . 0362-4331.
  31. Book: Contemporary Authors: First revision . 1969 . Gale Research Company . 899 . en.
  32. News: Obituary: Mariquita Platov . 26 June 2024 . The Daily Mail . July 10, 2001.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mariquita Platov".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.