Edith Kingdon Gould (August 20, 1920 – August 17, 2004) was a socialite, linguist, and poet. She was the granddaughter of Jay Gould.

Birth

She was the daughter of financier Kingdon Gould, Sr.. She was the great-granddaughter of Jay Gould the robber baron. She appeared as an actress in the 1946 Broadway production of Agatha Christie's play Hidden Horizon.

Poet

Time writes on December 24, 1934:

Out just in time to make a fine Christmas present for her schoolmates at Miss Hewitt's Classes was a thin, blue & white book of Poems by Edith Kingdon Gould, 14, great-granddaughter of Jay Gould. On the day it was published Manhattan newshawks called at the Goulds' Manhattan penthouse, found the butler and Miss Edith, a well-poised girl with bangs and saucer eyes, at home. Said Poet Gould. "I suppose I must get used to this if I am going to be any good with my verse." Thereupon she rattled solemnly: "I have been writing poetry since I was 6. It's funny that I should have loved poetry, isn't it? Most of the girls I know really loathe it. ... I like horseback riding, swimming, and tennis, but I am poor at tennis. ... I like boys all right, but I don't like them my own age. They seem so stupid. ... I think it's very silly of Roosevelt to tax the rich and give it to the unemployed." Miss Gould posed for newscameramen, then ushered her callers to the elevator. "You know," said she "I will get 10 cents for every copy that's sold. Best of her 37 verses. Author Gould likes "When Tomorrow," written on her 14th birthday last August:

• When tomorrow has become today
• I will be one year older, people say.
• When today has joined the endless train
• Of yesterdays that came and went again,
• This past year with its wild desires,
• Hopes unrealized that youth inspires,
• Dreams that became deceptions, rapture, all
• Will have passed far out beyond recall.
• Year that I have lived! Thoughts that were my own!
• Dying in the dead of night, alone.
• Will I, too, sometime have slipped their way
• When tomorrow has become today?"

Navy

In October 1942 she joined the WAVES as an apprentice seaman and trained in Madison, Wisconsin. She graduated as an Ensign from the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School in Northampton, Massachusetts in April 1944. Later she was promoted to a Lieutenant. She spoke five languages.

Marriage and children

She married Guy Martin when he was age 34. He was a Navy lieutenant and a lawyer in JAG. They married in Manhattan in October 1946. In April 1958 they had their fourth child and first daughter: Edith Maria Theodosia Burr Martin who weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz. at birth.

Death

She died on August 17, 2004 in Washington, DC.

References