Location: Really deep in the heart of South California Gender:
Posted:
May 17, 2023 - 9:23pm
rgio wrote:
I hope you got to know her because I'm guessing she was quite a lady.
I knew one of her contemporaries, Dorothy (Germain) Porter, and if Marlene was anything like her, she was pretty special. I got to know Mrs. Porter and her husband when I was young (teens and 20s), and she was an incredible presence who lit up a room without even trying. Mrs. Porter had a quiet, gentle confidence that let you know without asking who was in charge. Especially on a golf course.
I was lucky enough to play golf with her several times, and even in her 70's she was still an amazing player. She won the US Amateur in 1949 (with a 1-year-old and being 2 months pregnant) and the US Senior Amateur 4 times. She won the Philly Amateur 9 times... the first at 22 and the last at 68.
She moved into the house across the street from ours about 10 years ago when her husband passed away.
Yes I got to know her fairly well. As mentioned in the article... "She had her opinions about things."
Most of the neighbors didn't like her. I got along with her fine. She liked me. We would talked about politics, religion and the neighbors.
One day, one of the warring women she didn't like, came walking by and it turned into a swear fest. After that lady left, I gave Marline an earful of that isn't a way to treat others.
She agreed. The next day I talked with the other woman and tried to get them to reconcile. "Oh, Kurt. Your just so nice."
I would help her with issues that would come up around her house. She eventually got weaker and couldn't take care of herself. They put her in a nice home and I would keep in touch with her family. They told me she had no memory left. She lasted almost a year there.
I hope you got to know her because I'm guessing she was quite a lady.
I knew one of her contemporaries, Dorothy (Germain) Porter, and if Marlene was anything like her, she was pretty special. I got to know Mrs. Porter and her husband when I was young (teens and 20s), and she was an incredible presence who lit up a room without even trying. Mrs. Porter had a quiet, gentle confidence that let you know without asking who was in charge. Especially on a golf course.
I was lucky enough to play golf with her several times, and even in her 70's she was still an amazing player. She won the US Amateur in 1949 (with a 1-year-old and being 2 months pregnant) and the US Senior Amateur 4 times. She won the Philly Amateur 9 times... the first at 22 and the last at 68.
Location: Really deep in the heart of South California Gender:
Posted:
May 17, 2023 - 4:49am
My neighbor...
Marlene Hagge-Vossler, a teen golf
sensation in the 1940s and 1950s who was the last survivor of the13
women who founded the LPGA in 1950, died Tuesday morning in Rancho
Mirage, family members confirmed. Hagge-Vossler was 89. A 26-time
winner on the LPGA including the 1952 LPGA Championship, Hagge-Vossler
was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002 through the
Hall's veteran committee. Hagge-Vossler's family said she died in a
memory care facility in Rancho Mirage and had battled physical problems in the last year as the result of a fall.
Marlene Bauer was just 15 years old when the incorporation papers for
the LPGA were signed to begin the women's professional golf tour in
1950. Along with her older sister Alice and famed golfers such as Babe
Didrikson Zaharias, Louise Suggs and Patty Berg, the 13 founders
traveled the country in cars, running their own tournaments, setting up
their own golf courses and doing their own promotional appearances
without much financial support from sponsors or equipment companies.
The youngest of the 13 and considered the first blonde sex symbol on
the tour, Hagge-Vossler proved to be more than just a pretty face. She
won her first LPGA title in 1952 at the Sarasota Open and the last of
her 26 titles at the 1972 Burdine's Invitational in Miami. While
Hagge-Vossler won just one major title, the 1952 LPGA Championship, she
placed second in the U.S. Women's Open that year, third in the
Titleholders Championship in 1957 and second in the Western Open in
1965. "Marlene had a very special place in the tour. She was not only a fine player, but she
was beautiful, charismatic and popular," said Charlie Mechem, another
long-time desert resident and commissioner of the LPGA from 1990 to
1995. "The tour and golf as a whole will miss her."
Hagge-Vossler was featured in the 2016 documentary film "The
Founders" on the 13 founders of the tour. At that time, only four
founders were still alive — Marilynn Smith, Louise Suggs, Shirley
Spork and Hagge-Vossler. Spork, a long-time desert resident, died in
April of 2022 at the age of 94, leaving Hagge-Vossler as the last living
founder. "I don't know of any organization that recognizes and remembers it founders and,
happily, in recent years has really embraced them totally," Mechem said
of the LPGA founders. "I like to think that I played a part in that."
Sandra Palmer, another desert resident who will be inducted into the
World Golf Hall of Fame in 2024, recalled the respect players had for
the founders in the 1960s and 1970s. But she added that Hagge-Vossler
earned respect for her game as well.
"Marlene was a heck of a player. She could flat play," Palmer said.
"She could hit a driver off the deck. And she was a fierce competitor."
Palmer recalled seeing Hagge-Vossler and other early LPGA players at a
tournament in the Dallas area when Palmer was still in high school. She
then played with Hagge-Vossler after Palmer joined the LPGA in 1964.
"She had her opinions about things, but she was a smart lady," Palmer said.
Susie Berning, a three-time U.S. Women's Open winner and also a World
Golf Hall of Famer who teaches in the desert, recalled her early days
on tour with Hagge-Vossler.
"When I first joined the tour (in 1964), we called Marlene my mother,
because she mothered me and looked after me," said Berning, who has been
a regular visitor to Hagge-Vossler in the last year. "But she did that
with all the new players. Judy Rankin and Marlene and I and Kathy
Whitworth, we would rent houses together and stay in houses together. In
Rochester, we probably stayed in the same house for 10 years."
Berning said Hagge-Vossler was popular as a housemate because she
liked to cook. But Berning also talked about Hagge-Vossler's competitive
nature.
"She would almost give you the stink-eye on the golf course," Berning said.
A junior golf sensation
Even before the LPGA was formed, Hagge-Vossler was a national
sensation. Her family moved from Eureka, S.D. to Southern California,
and at age10 she won the Long Beach City Boys Championship. She
continued winning both regular and junior golf events throughout the
1940s, including the inaugural U.S. Junior Girls title in 1949. That
same year Hagge-Vossler won women's tournaments in Palm Springs and
Indio in what would become her adoptive home
of the Coachella Valley. The Associated Press named Hagge-Vossler its
female athlete of the year for 1949.
In a 2013 interview, Hagge-Vossler said it was almost impossible for a
junior female golfer to play in tournaments or get onto high-profile
golf courses. But Marlene and her sister Alice found a patron saint in a
more famous female golfer, Dolores Hope, wife of comedian Bob Hope.
"In those days, it was tough to be a golfer if you were a girl,"
Hagge-Vossler said. "They didn't allow women onto some of the snitzy
golf courses in L.A. They wouldn't let children under 16 to play in the
California State Amateur, L.A. City and so forth. So (Hope) would take
us to play, and she would take Alice and me to play these courses and of
course no one could say no to her. L.A. Country Club and Bel Air, she
was very instrumental."
Hagge-Vossler was married twice, once in 1955 to Dick Hagge, her
sister's former husband. They divorced in 1964. In 1995 she married
Ernie Vossler, a golf pro known for developing golf courses including
PGA West and La Quinta Resort in the Coachella Valley. They remained
married until Vossler's death
Monday evening 5-1-23
Gordon Lightfoot died today. He wasn't my favorite but penned some mighty fine stuff. Thank you Canada.
Wednesday morning 5-4-23
Dropped his CD into the player to visit the memories and skipped ahead to my favorite on the disk:
âBeautifulâ At times I just don't know How you could be anything but beautiful I think that I was made for you And you were made for me
And I know that that I won't ever change Cause we've been friends Through rain or shine For such a long, long time
On this morning, this song wrenched open my heart and reduced me to tears. This morning I left the room to hide my pain and fear, to feign strength for my Melody. But she found my secret place, again. Through hot tears she said her love for me is always. I reminded her, she had me at hello. Through a desperate hug we sobbed a wordless goodbye.
Tomorrow morning we go to the cancer center to burn a twenty years demon. We rush to days of chemo and a stem cell transplant. Funny how we counted down the days. Please, no last days, these. Hers deserve days of grandchildren.
The same small town street saw us as kids but not until twenty years later did our stars align under a grown up sky. For 45 years, as a day, her beauty was as the first when she broke open my heart. We were made for each other and have been friends for such a long, long time. Oh, for the rain and the shine.
Gordon, on this morning you captured us in tears. May you go with a Lightfoot to rest with your fathers. If you see my Melody bid her homeward with my heart.
Monday evening 5-1-23
Gordon Lightfoot died today. He wasn't my favorite but penned some mighty fine stuff. Thank you Canada.
Wednesday morning 5-4-23
Dropped his CD into the player to visit the memories and skipped ahead to my favorite on the disk:
âBeautifulâ At times I just don't know How you could be anything but beautiful I think that I was made for you And you were made for me
And I know that that I won't ever change Cause we've been friends Through rain or shine For such a long, long time
On this morning, this song wrenched open my heart and reduced me to tears. This morning I left the room to hide my pain and fear, to feign strength for my Melody. But she found my secret place, again. Through hot tears she said her love for me is always. I reminded her, she had me at hello. Through a desperate hug we sobbed a wordless goodbye.
Tomorrow morning we go to the cancer center to burn a twenty years demon. We rush to days of chemo and a stem cell transplant. Funny how we counted down the days. Please, no last days, these. Hers deserve days of grandchildren.
The same small town street saw us as kids but not until twenty years later did our stars align under a grown up sky. For 45 years, as a day, her beauty was as the first when she broke open my heart. We were made for each other and have been friends for such a long, long time. Oh, for the rain and the shine.
Gordon, on this morning you captured us in tears. May you go with a Lightfoot to rest with your fathers. If you see my Melody bid her homeward with my heart.
Wow.
"May the long-time sunshine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure light within you
Guide your way home"
(a slight variation on the lyrics I sometimes use - equally applicable)
