The Best of Times

In 1950, a young artist, Allene Gaty, married a well established, middle-aged, very social historian/biographer, Alden Hatch. Learning to cope with life in the upper echelons while meeting such celebrated world figures as President and Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Pope John XXIII, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, Clare Booth Luce, Buckminster Fuller, Henry Cabot Lodge and "Mrs." Admiral Byrd among many others gave Allene a challenging life. It also gave her a peek behind the curtain of history. Author Bio: Allene Gaty Hatch was raised on a farm in the Hudson Valley. She was educated at the Museum of Modern Art, and at the Fashion Academy of New York City. She pursued a career in advertising art until her marriage to Alden Hatch, well known biographer, in 1950. She was his research assistant and illustrator for four of his biographies, Red Carpet for Mamie, The Circus Kings, The Life of Pope John XXIII, and Buckminster Fuller: At Home in the Universe. Her first book, illustrated with her own cartoons, was called Menopause Can Be Fun. Her second book was a biography of Marjorie Merriwether Post. At present she lives in New York City.