Neva Matthews was born in Florida in 1927. The daughter of a diner owner developed a love of modeling that would define her teen years. In her 20s, Neva married Harry Bennett, a World War II pilot. With the grace of Donna Reed, she gave Harry two boys and took up hobbies like cake decoration and gardening. Then she joined the workforce as a secretary and filed for divorce at the start of the 60s. The divorce was unconventional for the time, especially in the Bible Belt. She baked, gardened, made clothing, and took up modeling again before her second marriage which unfortunately also ended in divorce and left Neva again as a single mother and secretary. When I look at my grandmother's name plate and name tag, left from jobs she never mentioned, I wonder why she kept these things. Perhaps, she was proud of her embroidery on the name-tag. Perhaps, she took pride in the independence she was afforded by working to support her boys even if she was not proud of the career itself. Her story reminds me of Alix Kates Schulman's Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen. Like the character in Schulman's novel, Neva went into her marriage bright-eyed, but was forced to navigate divorce in a time where the action was a taboo. I never knew my grandfather but I knew a lot about Grandma. She loved fashion, gardening, and Coca-Cola. I have her photographs, letters, and aprons now in New York where I work on film sets. It might be the type of life she dreamed of, a life that felt just out of her reach.

– Faith Bennett

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more