#Verna Hobson

[denimbex1986]

Inspired by the film Oppenheimer, currently playing at the Princeton Garden Theatre and in cinemas across the world, interest in J. Robert Oppenheimer’s years heading the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) has inspired local recollections about the famed physicist, his family, and people affiliated with him.

Among the most recent is a remembrance of Verna Hobson, Oppenheimer’s secretary at the IAS from 1954 to 1966. Hobson and her husband, Wilder Hobson, were friends of the mother of Princeton resident Hank Fairman through much of the 1950s till 1964. The Hobsons lived on Valley Road at Jefferson Road, and the Fairmans lived nearby on Mt. Lucas Road.

“As a young boy, I remember them coming to my mother’s house for evenings of dinner and jazz,” noted Fairman, a novelist and poet who formerly wrote a column on environmental issues for the Princeton Packet. “Verna, a slim, attractive woman, played, surprisingly, the tuba. Wilder played the trombone, and several others, including professional trumpet player John Dengler, joined to perform popular and jazz pieces in the living room of my mother’s house, where she was hostess and gourmet cook.”

According to Hobson’s obituary, “She soloed in front of the Lester Lanin orchestra and jammed with jazz stars Wild Bill Davison and J.C. Higginbotham.”

Hobson’s years with Oppenheimer represent only one phase of her career. She worked at the Museum of Modern Art and Time Inc. in New York. In London, she was employed at the American Association of University Women and as executive secretary for an architectural firm. She edited one weekly newspaper in Maine, and was a freelance photographer for another. She studied Greek at the Senior College of the University of Southern Maine. She died in 2004 at the age of 81.

Hobson went to work for Oppenheimer at the IAS in 1954. “She, as he must have seen, was a gifted woman in her own right, and she worked at his side, presumably until his death,” Fairman said.

She was closely involved as Oppenheimer, who led the development of the atomic bomb, prepared for a hearing by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission that ultimately led to his security clearance being revoked. In the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (on which the film Oppenheimer is based), Hobson expresses her frustration with the pace of his defense.

“To his friends, Robert seemed distracted and inexplicably passive,” the book reads. “One day, while listening to the lawyers talk about legal strategy, Verna Hobson lost her patience and began to push Robert. ‘I thought Robert was not fighting hard enough,’ she recalled. ‘I thought Lloyd Garrison [his attorney] was being too gentlemanly. I was angry. I thought we should go out and fight.’”

Hobson was the daughter of U.S. Congressman Francis Burton Harrison, who also served as governor-general of the Philippines. “She lived in Europe for her first 16 years following her father’s retirement,” Fairman said. “She then attended Swarthmore College and learned to fly small planes, co-owning a Piper Cub.”

Hobson met her husband, Wilder — a first cousin of playwright Thornton Wilder — while working for Time Inc., and they married in 1945. They spent many summers on Squirrel Island in Maine, where his family had a cottage. “They had two children, Archie and Elisa, the latter of similar age and occasional acquaintance of my sister,” said Fairman. “Following Wilder’s death in 1964, and Oppenheimer’s death from throat cancer in 1967, Verna moved to London. Sadly, Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty, had a drinking problem, and Wilder died from gastrointestinal problems worsened by drinking.”

Hobson returned to the U.S. in 1976, settling in New Gloucester, Maine. “She became a farmer, growing trees, vegetables, lambs, pigs, and chickens, and was active in a local environmental organization,” Fairman said. “At the same time, she reported for, edited, and managed a local weekly newspaper, the New Gloucester News, and was one of the revivers of a summer newspaper focused on Squirrel Island. She was also active with various writing and readers’ groups.”

As if that wasn’t enough, Hobson became the foster mother to a young refugee from Cambodia in 1983.

“That Verna engaged two unusually bright men, Wilder Hobson and Dr. Oppenheimer, speaks to her own abilities, interests, and achievements and marks her as one of Princeton’s truly notable residents,” said Fairman.'

[vigilantesyd]

hello kids, are you ready to learn about privilege today??

okay so since it’s not the responsibility of poc/lgbt/etc. to educate other white people, as A White myself, am going to try to compile a masterlist of resources so y’all can educate yourselves instead of burdening anyone else. i’ll update this as i remember or come across new resources. let’s get educated people!!!!!!!

Racism:

color blind or color brave? a ted talk by mellody hobson

are all white people racist?

racial microagressions in everyday life

a talk about racism and sexism by john dovidio

how we’re priming some kids for college and others for prison. a ted talk by alice goffman

13th, a documentary

how to overcome our biases? walk boldly toward them. a ted talk by verna myers

Homophobia:

what the bible says about homosexuality. a ted talk by kristin saylor & jim o’hanlon

coming out of your closet. a ted talk by ash beckham

Transphobia/Complex Gender Issues:

walking in your truth as an lgbt youth. a ted talk by daniella carter

redefining realness: my path to womanhood, identity, love, and so much more by janet mock

Sexism/Feminism/Intersectionalism/Toxic Masculinity:

why gender equality is good for everyone, including men. a ted talk by michael kimmel

we should all be feminists. a ted talk by chimamanda ngozi adichie

everyday sexism. a ted talk by laura bates

the hunting ground, a documentary

men explain things to me by rebecca solnit

the mask you live in, a documentary

Ableism:

overcoming ableism. a ted talk by naty rico

as i said before, this is not completed, this is just what i could compile pretty quickly!! if you have a problem with any of the resources or would like to suggest them yourself please shoot me a message!!