1957
1957 marked the tenth anniversary of Gianna’s arrival in Italy. An exhibition celebrating The Fund’s work was planned for October in Ortona and dignitaries from London, the British Embassy in Rome and the Italian Government were expected to attend.
Gianna and Ann travelled widely. Their work now reached into the far south with a major nursery project planned for Scandale in Calabria, and, at the end of January, they visited Sicily to investigate the possibility of setting up a project on behalf of the American Federation. But they were still committed to projects nearer home in Abruzzo. On 7th February Ann wrote to her parents: Sunday we leave for Castel di Sangro, Monday, Tuesday Cassino, Thursday Rome, Saturday Ortona, Monday Sulmona….so went the month of February.
Perhaps Gianna was feeling guilty about her own mother and she planned to visit her in Lincoln on her next scheduled trip to London for SCF meetings. She left for England on April 15th leaving Ann to hold the fort in Rome. None of Gianna’s letters from this period survive in the archive. However, on the 18th April she sent a postcard to Ann’s parents from Lincoln sending Easter greetings. Relations with her own mother appeared cordial during her visit but on her return to Italy she was shocked to receive a letter in which (mother) gave me the dickens and telling me never to come home again if I plan my time in such a way as to be away from home as much as possible. I cannot tell you some of the other things she said but I can assure you that they were not only astounding but quite unexpected especially as we had parted the best of friends…..I did have a similar experience the last time I went home so that I was somewhat reluctant to start everything up again. As you see it seems to have done not only this but heightened whatever resentment mother has towards my being here etc. Oh dear, and I thought she was completely resigned to it (18.5.57).
Soon after her return from England, Gianna, Ida and Ann developed a ‘tummy bug’ but this did not prevent Ann leaving for America for a short visit to her parents. Gianna and Ida soon recovered but Ann’s symptoms persisted and back home in America she was forced to consult a doctor.
In May Gianna received an official visit from Glen Leet from the American Federation. He had previously worked for the United Nations and impressed Gianna with his charm, knowledge and authority. She took him on a long trip to the mountain villages to inspect projects and he responded enthusiastically. She immediately reported to Ann …he had done this sort of work for ten years but had never seen anything to equal our standard of work…….. He feels that we are both wasted in doing anything else but work with village groups. We should neither be doing accounts, sponsorships, distributions or anything else but doing work on an experimental level all the time with all the financial backing that they can give and to be left alone to carry out our hunches. It is clear that after three years Gianna now regarded Ann not as an assistant but as a full partner in their work. Leet has gone away dreamy eyed and dewy lipped or some such over the very high quality of our work (23.5.57)
In all of her letters Gianna makes constant enquiries about Ann’s health and looks forward to her return: ….get strong and well for all the community development work which we shall be doing when you come back…..Thank heaven you will not have to have an operation and everything is straightening out.(29/5)
In June Gianna attended an SCF conference in Athens. Several senior figures were there including Glen Leet who publicly repeated his praise for ‘The Work’. After the conference she spent a few days at Ionnina and wrote to Ann: I am just sitting on the balcony looking at the most lovely scene I think I have ever seen…..The next holiday must be here, you will lose your heart to it as I have lost mine (8/6)
However, Ann had decided that she would not be returning to Italy as expected. Without informing Gianna, she wrote to Mrs Henderson, the SCF Foreign Relief Secretary, that her medical condition had not responded to treatment: The doctors have said that before they can be sure what is going on inside me I have to take two months and do nothing but rest. She goes on to request unpaid leave in the hope that she can resume her duties in Italy in September. She admits to feeling embarrassed making this request but my family is adamant about my having the rest if the doctors say so and I do not at the same time want to lose my job .(18/6)
Gianna was given no warning of these developments and returned to Ortona on the 18th Jun. However, the news finally reached her on the 21st and she immediately replied: I have just received your letter which made me feel more sorry for you at the moment than for myself and that is saying a lot. But Gianna seemed to accept the situation and her next few letters concentrated on their joint triumph with Leet and at the Athens conference.
It may well be that when writing to Gianna, Ann made light of her ailment. It is equally possible that in her letter to Mrs Henderson she exaggerated its seriousness. Without copies of Ann’s letters it is impossible to know the truth but we know that for some time she had been under pressure from her parents to leave Italy and return to the USA.
Ill or not, it would appear that back home Ann was attracting attention from the local men, particularly Charles Cammack who was known to her parents. In a cryptic paragraph in her letter of the 28th Gianna wrote: Glad that your mother is controlling the Charlie traffic, will you tell her from me that the Charlies seem too smooth and too fast for safety. We’ll have to find someone who is a more careful driver!
During July Gianna wrote to Ann every two days keeping her up to date with gossip and work developments. However, she could still be over-dramatic, especially when she had to do the accounts: Oh what a day! At times I think that I cannot stand it here for another minute (3/6). Doing her monthly accounts was always a trial to Gianna. In some ways she was obsessively diligent and insisted on accounting for every penny. Over the next few years, as the pressure mounted, doing the accounts would often lead to tearful outbursts. For now, however she was able to treat it as a joke and signed off her next letter: With love, a very-very-tired-jaded-old- horrible-looking-but-quite-happy-now-that-accounts-are-done. Gianna.(5/6)
The British Ambassador and his wife promised to attend the 10th anniversary celebrations scheduled for October. Gianna was quietly proud that her work would be recognised in this way. But she was concerned about the lack of news of Ann’s health: I was glad to hear from you but still cannot make out whether you are better and if not why not. Please tell me. (9/8). And on the 13th: Come back quick, there is a lot to do here. She signs off her 18th July letter with: Take care of the Charlies and have a good time and get better. What is all this nonsense about your tummy still troubling you, I really cannot understand it.
Gianna became depressed by Ann’s absence. There is no doubt that she missed her both as a work colleague and friend. For the last 3 years Ann had filled the void left in her life by Ernest’s death. On the 21st July she spent the evening alone in Ortona and made a drawing as a gift for Ann’s saint’s day on the 26th. She inscribed it “All this….and heaven too…is waiting for you!”
1957 marked the tenth anniversary of Gianna’s arrival in Italy. An exhibition celebrating The Fund’s work was planned for October in Ortona and dignitaries from London, the British Embassy in Rome and the Italian Government were expected to attend.
Gianna and Ann travelled widely. Their work now reached into the far south with a major nursery project planned for Scandale in Calabria, and, at the end of January, they visited Sicily to investigate the possibility of setting up a project on behalf of the American Federation. But they were still committed to projects nearer home in Abruzzo. On 7th February Ann wrote to her parents: Sunday we leave for Castel di Sangro, Monday, Tuesday Cassino, Thursday Rome, Saturday Ortona, Monday Sulmona….so went the month of February.
Perhaps Gianna was feeling guilty about her own mother and she planned to visit her in Lincoln on her next scheduled trip to London for SCF meetings. She left for England on April 15th leaving Ann to hold the fort in Rome. None of Gianna’s letters from this period survive in the archive. However, on the 18th April she sent a postcard to Ann’s parents from Lincoln sending Easter greetings. Relations with her own mother appeared cordial during her visit but on her return to Italy she was shocked to receive a letter in which (mother) gave me the dickens and telling me never to come home again if I plan my time in such a way as to be away from home as much as possible. I cannot tell you some of the other things she said but I can assure you that they were not only astounding but quite unexpected especially as we had parted the best of friends…..I did have a similar experience the last time I went home so that I was somewhat reluctant to start everything up again. As you see it seems to have done not only this but heightened whatever resentment mother has towards my being here etc. Oh dear, and I thought she was completely resigned to it (18.5.57).
Soon after her return from England, Gianna, Ida and Ann developed a ‘tummy bug’ but this did not prevent Ann leaving for America for a short visit to her parents. Gianna and Ida soon recovered but Ann’s symptoms persisted and back home in America she was forced to consult a doctor.
In May Gianna received an official visit from Glen Leet from the American Federation. He had previously worked for the United Nations and impressed Gianna with his charm, knowledge and authority. She took him on a long trip to the mountain villages to inspect projects and he responded enthusiastically. She immediately reported to Ann …he had done this sort of work for ten years but had never seen anything to equal our standard of work…….. He feels that we are both wasted in doing anything else but work with village groups. We should neither be doing accounts, sponsorships, distributions or anything else but doing work on an experimental level all the time with all the financial backing that they can give and to be left alone to carry out our hunches. It is clear that after three years Gianna now regarded Ann not as an assistant but as a full partner in their work. Leet has gone away dreamy eyed and dewy lipped or some such over the very high quality of our work (23.5.57)
In all of her letters Gianna makes constant enquiries about Ann’s health and looks forward to her return: ….get strong and well for all the community development work which we shall be doing when you come back…..Thank heaven you will not have to have an operation and everything is straightening out.(29/5)
In June Gianna attended an SCF conference in Athens. Several senior figures were there including Glen Leet who publicly repeated his praise for ‘The Work’. After the conference she spent a few days at Ionnina and wrote to Ann: I am just sitting on the balcony looking at the most lovely scene I think I have ever seen…..The next holiday must be here, you will lose your heart to it as I have lost mine (8/6)
However, Ann had decided that she would not be returning to Italy as expected. Without informing Gianna, she wrote to Mrs Henderson, the SCF Foreign Relief Secretary, that her medical condition had not responded to treatment: The doctors have said that before they can be sure what is going on inside me I have to take two months and do nothing but rest. She goes on to request unpaid leave in the hope that she can resume her duties in Italy in September. She admits to feeling embarrassed making this request but my family is adamant about my having the rest if the doctors say so and I do not at the same time want to lose my job .(18/6)
Gianna was given no warning of these developments and returned to Ortona on the 18th Jun. However, the news finally reached her on the 21st and she immediately replied: I have just received your letter which made me feel more sorry for you at the moment than for myself and that is saying a lot. But Gianna seemed to accept the situation and her next few letters concentrated on their joint triumph with Leet and at the Athens conference.
It may well be that when writing to Gianna, Ann made light of her ailment. It is equally possible that in her letter to Mrs Henderson she exaggerated its seriousness. Without copies of Ann’s letters it is impossible to know the truth but we know that for some time she had been under pressure from her parents to leave Italy and return to the USA.
Ill or not, it would appear that back home Ann was attracting attention from the local men, particularly Charles Cammack who was known to her parents. In a cryptic paragraph in her letter of the 28th Gianna wrote: Glad that your mother is controlling the Charlie traffic, will you tell her from me that the Charlies seem too smooth and too fast for safety. We’ll have to find someone who is a more careful driver!
During July Gianna wrote to Ann every two days keeping her up to date with gossip and work developments. However, she could still be over-dramatic, especially when she had to do the accounts: Oh what a day! At times I think that I cannot stand it here for another minute (3/6). Doing her monthly accounts was always a trial to Gianna. In some ways she was obsessively diligent and insisted on accounting for every penny. Over the next few years, as the pressure mounted, doing the accounts would often lead to tearful outbursts. For now, however she was able to treat it as a joke and signed off her next letter: With love, a very-very-tired-jaded-old- horrible-looking-but-quite-happy-now-that-accounts-are-done. Gianna.(5/6)
The British Ambassador and his wife promised to attend the 10th anniversary celebrations scheduled for October. Gianna was quietly proud that her work would be recognised in this way. But she was concerned about the lack of news of Ann’s health: I was glad to hear from you but still cannot make out whether you are better and if not why not. Please tell me. (9/8). And on the 13th: Come back quick, there is a lot to do here. She signs off her 18th July letter with: Take care of the Charlies and have a good time and get better. What is all this nonsense about your tummy still troubling you, I really cannot understand it.
Gianna became depressed by Ann’s absence. There is no doubt that she missed her both as a work colleague and friend. For the last 3 years Ann had filled the void left in her life by Ernest’s death. On the 21st July she spent the evening alone in Ortona and made a drawing as a gift for Ann’s saint’s day on the 26th. She inscribed it “All this….and heaven too…is waiting for you!”
'All this, and heaven too, is waiting for you.'
The drawing presents Gianna’s ambivalent view of her life and work in the south with its combination of beauty, joy, tedium and drudgery. In the distance a village stands romantically on a hilltop beneath a vast sky. But in the foreground lie bales of unopened clothing, cans of paint, a written report and piles of sponsorship letters awaiting translation. Spilling out from behind the village and cascading into the foreground is a print roll from an adding machine – the dreaded accounts threatening to entangle all aspects of their lives.
However, at the end of July Ann wrote with the good news that her health had improved and she would return to Italy in September in time for the anniversary celebrations. On the 24th, a clearly delighted Gianna replied: I was so glad to have your letter telling me that finally you were getting better and getting fatter. I am really glad that everything is getting cleared up…… You say that you are thinking of coming back on the 27th. Could you not make it a week or two before perhaps? It would be of great help all round.
Six days later Ann wrote announcing a change of plan - she would not be returning after all. Gianna replied:
Your letter has plunged me into deep despair, only temporarily however. I must say here and now that for heaven’s sake whatever you think about doing or decide to do you must not think of Ortona, of the work, of Southern Italy, of the work or of anything connected with us here. If you think you can be happy with Charlie go ahead without thinking for one moment that you are under any obligation here even if it is only for another brief spell. Just go ahead and do not come back and I will send everything on to you. This if you are sure though. If you have any doubts at all think about it seriously.
Despite her supportive remarks, Gianna was upset by this news. It was less than a week ago since Ann said she would definitely be returning. Later in the same letter she became quite emotional:
I am in two minds as to thinking about resigning once the 10th anniversary is celebrated. I’d like to tell them all to farsi friggere (get fried). In one breath they all tell me not to overwork and why I do not take a few days off and in the next breath they all decide to come at the most inopportune times. Oh hell!
She signs off with:
My love and all my understanding and sympathy go out to you just now. Whatever you decide please do not let any thought of us here influence you in any way. As I have said I myself may just have to give up if we go on like this even though it will break my heart as you can imagine.(5/8)
Over the next few weeks Ann was still unsure about whether to go ahead with the marriage. Gianna tried unsuccessfully to sit on the fence but it was clear that she hoped that Ann would return. Amidst all this uncertainty she sent Ann an invitation to the anniversary celebrations:
I am naturally eager to know your decision but don’t feel that you have to hurry on my behalf. In spite of the frantic time table we are all well in hand and things are getting taken care of in spite of it all. In case you turn up on the 26th and 27th in Rome I have booked us a double room at the Dinesen. If you don’t turn up I will manage.
But Ann had already written informing Gianna that she was definitely going to marry Charlie and would not be coming back.
Gianna replied on the 29th:
I have just received your letter of August 23rd and the only thing that I can say is “may you be very happy for ever and ever”. I am sure that your mother and father will be in the seventh heaven to have you there with them and to have you married to someone they like and whom they have known for some time. You have made by far the best decision and I am sure that you do not need cooing noises of approval from me or anything like that. After this last month I have come more and more to the conclusion that this is no life for anyone, only for someone who can give everything else up for an idea, crazy as that might be. The constant demands on one’s time and one’s energies on the part of everyone are so killing to any private life of one’s own that it is difficult to switch off and become another normal human being. Get out while you can and forget all about it.
She also wrote to Ann’s mother:
I don’t know how to tell you how happy I am for her and for you, she will be with someone she loves and you will have her with you again. Naturally I will miss her deeply and we will all miss her help but it would be most selfish of us to wish that things had been any different.
Did Gianna ever suspect that Ann might not have been entirely honest with her about her illness? And did she ever suspect that her parents might have been behind Ann’s decision to marry? It would be understandable if these thoughts had crossed her mind, but if they did, she kept them to herself:
When I say that I am very happy for you I really mean it from the bottom of my heart and with the same wholeheartedness I wish you every joy. There is not one ounce of bitterness in this, please believe me and even though I naturally miss you I am very happy that you found someone that you can love as you do. It seems strange to be packing your things! Oh well……. Some people travel and some people stay put.
Gianna was busy with the Anniversary exhibition: The first acceptance has already come, guess who? Mazzarone, who is enchanted about the news of Tricarico. Naturally we are all expecting you on your honeymoon, the whole “family” here I mean. Anything doing? Let me know as Sorino is ready to build up a double decker bed for your room. (8/9)
Ann did not attend the 10th anniversary exhibition in Ortona on 3rd October although she sent a good luck telegram. The Ambassador’s wife was there, as was Lady Alexander and Mrs Henderson from the Fund. Gianna felt it was a great success: never has British prestige been higher……we thought of you and we drank your health at the end of the ‘intimate’ dinner in the select group (5/10)
Ann invited Gianna to be Matron of Honour at her wedding. She declined pleading pressure of work, but there is a feeling of regret behind the excuses.
The trouble is that it would be taking time out again from the work which has been somewhat neglected because of the “do” and as well as this it would be easier for you to have a local for your “do”. In view of all this I think it would be better to give up this idea.
Professionally Gianna was at the pinnacle her career. Her work was recognised and applauded internationally but for the second time in her life she was alone.
To her credit Gianna did not show any of this in her letters to Ann but continually expressed support for her decision to marry Charlie. Typically she covered her emotions with talk of work sending reports, photographs and newspaper articles about the anniversary celebrations and updates on various projects including positive news of developments in Tricarico. But she also expresses an increasing frustration with the number of visitors she is expected to entertain. Ten years of constant travelling, cajoling, arguing and encouraging was taking its toll.
Meanwhile back in America Ann was having last minute doubts. On the 16th November Gianna wrote:
By the time you get this the day will be almost upon you and you will have made some decision. Don’t forget that there is always a room here for you and a very warm welcome but only as a last resort. Don’t give up something beautiful just for cold feet. Should you decide to do so we are all here to welcome you and no questions asked.
Ann married Charles Walker Cammack on 27th November.
There are no more letters in the Vassar file for 1957.
For the last three years Ann and her family had filled a void in Gianna’s life caused by Ernest’s death and her troubled relationship with her own mother. The feeling of loneliness as the damp Abruzzo winter was setting in must have been overwhelming. She admitted in a letter written in 1960 that she had become dependent on Ann. She had lost not only a close friend but also a valued work colleague and, without Ann, her frustrations grew. To outsiders she may have presented the calm saintly presence which Ann had described when they first met in 1954, but over the next few months Gianna’s letters began to reveal increasing feelings of anxiety and insecurity.
But there was a toughness in her makeup without which she would not have survived this far and during the next few weeks she began planning for the future.
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