75. Maureen Prothro

Maureen Prothro was born in Zwolle, Louisiana, around 1932, to Duke and Edith Prothro. Her father was a dentist in private practice, and the family moved to Shreveport in 1935.¹ There, she graduated from Byrd High School and went onto New Orleans to attend Newcomb College, the coordinate women’s college for Tulane University. Sometime after graduating college in 1952, she moved to New York City where she taught art at Trinity School, an Episcopal day school in Manhattan. During Peter Grippe’s tenure as Atelier 17 director between 1952 and 1954, she paid for three months’ tuition, supplies, and a small zinc plate.² No evidence of her printmaking work survives to the present. In 1958, she moved to Washington, DC where she lived in the Georgetown neighborhood with friends from Shreveport and worked in the office of First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. Unfortunately, Prothro died in January 1960 from an overdose of sleeping pills, a suspected suicide.

Selected Bibliography

“Here for the Summer.” The Times. July 13, 1955.

“Miss Prothro Funeral Rites Set Sunday.” The Times. January 9, 1960.

“Prothro Death in Washington Ruled Suicide.” The Times. January 28, 1960.

“Workshop.” Clarion-Ledger. September 11, 1958.

“Workshop Held for Teachers of Children’s Art Classes.” Clarion-Ledger. September 9, 1958.

Notes