Archives On The Air 242: Aiding World War I Orphans — Laramie Woman's Club Records

By Wyoming Public Media

Published December 14, 2020 at 2:26 PM MST

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Edmonde Filaire sent this photograph of herself in her confirmation gown to her "godmothers" in the Laramie Woman's Club, May 1919. Box 1, Laramie Woman's Club Records, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Envelope from Edmonde Filaire addressed to Mary Bellamy, president of the Laramie Woman's Club, ca. 1919. Box 1, Laramie Woman's Club Records, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Envelope from Edmonde Filaire addressed to Mary Bellamy, president of the Laramie Woman's Club, ca. 1919. Box 1, Laramie Woman's Club Records, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Letter from Edmonde Filaire, November 11, 1921. Edmonde had developed into a talented artist and had learned to write in English by this time. Box 1, Laramie Woman's Club Records, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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During World War I, the technology of warfare had not advanced enough to cause Wyoming citizens fear of a direct attack by any of the belligerent powers.

But the plight of civilians in Europe concerned the people of Laramie.

In 1918 the Laramie Woman's Club informally adopted Edmonde Filaire, a ten-year old French girl whose father had been killed in the war.

[Birgit: For pronunciation of Edmonde, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISMOLpHZQX4 . For pronunciation of Filaire, see https://www.howtopronounce.com/french/filaire ]

During the next three years the Woman's Club contributed more than four hundred dollars through the American Red Cross to support Edmonde and her mother.

In return, the club received letters, cards, and photographs from their adopted goddaughter. At first, Edmonde corresponded in French. Then, as she grew older, she wrote letters in English.

See Edmonde's correspondence, drawings and more in the Laramie Woman's Club records at UW's American Heritage Center.