Constance Gates Markle was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1912. She died of complications from a stroke on March 2, 1999, in Inverness, California. She was 87. Connie took the confirmation name of Elizabeth, possibly after Elizabeth LaSalle Gates, her grandmother?Connie graduated from the Ursuline Academy in Cleveland in 1929, where shehad a flair for drama and music. She attended Western Reserve and graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She performed on local radio shows in Cleveland, singing and playing the piano and ukulele. She played five ½ hr shows per week on WHK and was paid $9 per week. At age 19, she asked her father, Augustus Gates, to take her to New York City to pursue her singing career. They drove to NYC together. Her father negotiated an audition with a CBS executive from a pay phone in the street. He begged the exec to reject his daughter so she would give up aspiring to be a singer. The "reverse psychology" worked; she was "discovered" and signed to a contract with the CBS orchestra. She was the featured singer with the CBS orchestra on the show "Moonglow." Later she signed with NBC and was featured on the "Let's Dance" show. She made guest appearances with her friends Benny Goodman and Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Connie, a contralto, popularized many songs in the mid-30's including "Red Sails in the Sunset" and "Moon over Miami". According to legend, her show was the first one woman show to be broadcast on both networks and her voice was the first female voice to be broadcast coast to coast. Connie was known as "the girl without a theme song." She believed that if fans couldn't remember her without a theme, they wouldn't remember her anyway. During her singing career she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.Connie took flying instructions from the well known stunt pilot Swanee Taylor. She wanted to be the first female air transport pilot. She met her husband, Gilbert J. Markle, an NBC radio engineer, as he raised the mike for her to sing. After marrying Gilbert J. Markle in 1939, Connie gave up her singing career to raise a family in Tenafly, NJ. After her singing career and her family, she became an artist. She created hundreds of oil paintings, sculptures, stained glass windows, and illuminated writings. The unifying theme of her art was the suffering of humanity. Her work was exhibited at the Interchurch Center in NYC and at the United Nations. Four murals, each a panel 6-foot high by 3 feet wide, depicting soldiers returning from battle were donated to the Vietnam government in the 60's. She studied Depth Psychology with Ira Progoff, known for his Intensive Journal Writing Workshops. Connie later became a student of Ayang Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist. She is survived by three children; Janet Rosemary Markle, William Gates Markle, Gilbert Scott Markle and by nine grand-children. As of 2008, there are also six great-grandchildren.
FS lists marriage location as Allen Co, Ohio.connie also remembers [incorrectly] that Mary Gorton and George Myers were married in Mecca, OH.
Publication: Series T625 Roll 1278 p 204
Repository:
Publication: Series T625, roll 579 page 260