“Frida is the sexiest 93-year-old I’ve ever seen,” said a guest at the Georgetown House Tour Patrons’ Party. “No one ever says no to Frida. She’s flirtatious and charming even while she’s twisting your arm,” he added, speaking of her ability to persuade hesitant Georgetowners to open their cherished homes for the hundreds of strangers who troop through on the annual tour. For more than 60 years, Frida has focused intensively on the St. John’s Church-sponsored tour, along with all the other good causes she has helped. Monies from the fundraiser help many social service agencies.
This fall she was an honoree for the Citizens Association of Georgetown’s Black and White Ball for her years of community work for her beloved neighborhood. But her influence has spread even farther, raising her to iconic status for many organizations.
Her life did not always enable her to have the means and time for causes, as she noted recently when the United Way of America gave a luncheon honoring her in New York, at the United Nations.
In her autobiography, Finally Frida, she mentions early years when, because of a mostly absentee father, Laurence Frazer, both she and her interior decorator mother worked, barely managing but helped by Frida’s scholarships and by friends, who gave them boxes of outgrown clothing.
Her life changed after her mother married again, to wealthy Randolph Leigh. Frida was much photographed and written about as a high-spirited and pretty debutante. One fascinating item was in the first column ever by Igor Cassini--later the legendary New York columnist “Cholly Knickerbocker”--whose brother Oleg became Jackie O’s favored designer.
Igor described a pre-WWII Chevy Chase Club evening when Mussolini’s visiting son, Vittorio, was lionized by all the debs, but only spent time with Frida Frazer. He went back to Italy, so the romance never blossomed further, but it is intriguing to think that if it had continued until Il Duce had an American daughter-in-law, Frida might have changed the course of history!
Brian Gallagher, president and CEO of the United Way of America, spoke at the United Nations of the significant impact of Frida’s lifelong work on such issues as affordable housing, child health, and care for homeless children. (Diane Lebson of the United Way of the National Capital Area told me of Frida’s great energy, and her readiness to help whenever needed.) Civil rights have always been important to her also. Both she and her mother carried signs on the Mall among the throng hearing Martin Luther King’s speech in 1963. In 2003 she again hoisted placards, marching against starting the war in Iraq.
Frida says that her own difficult childhood has given her empathy with the needy and taught her the importance of helping others. She began her philanthropic career aged 20, as a Junior Leaguer whose first assignment was to gather contributions, door-to-door, for the precursor to the present United Way. “I had no idea 73 years later I’d still be fundraising for them at 93.”
Her interest in charitable initiatives was deepened on marriage to Thacher Winslow, a Roosevelt-era New Deal arrival in Washington. He worked for the International Labor Organization, and died suddenly at only 47, leaving Frida with three young children. She has written of her grief, quoting Edna St. Vincent Millay: “Life goes on; I forget just why…”
She then worked in real estate, spending long days to support her family. She rebuilt her life and struggled to help her children adjust to being without their father.
Four years later, she married handsome and very successful Ed Burling, of the prestigious Covington & Burling law firm (whose officers, ever supportive of Frida’s endeavors, turned out at the UN for her special day).
Her second marriage was a happy one, as her first had been. She and Ed successfully combined their families. He has since passed away, and Frida now has five children, 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
When I asked her about the title of her fascinating, no-punches-pulled Finally Frida, she said, “I was always somebody’s daughter Frida, then somebody’s wife Frida. Now I am just myself, just--finally--Frida.”
I can’t agree. She has always been unique and multifaceted, and has always known exactly just who Frida is.
This fall she was an honoree for the Citizens Association of Georgetown’s Black and White Ball for her years of community work for her beloved neighborhood. But her influence has spread even farther, raising her to iconic status for many organizations.
Her life did not always enable her to have the means and time for causes, as she noted recently when the United Way of America gave a luncheon honoring her in New York, at the United Nations.
In her autobiography, Finally Frida, she mentions early years when, because of a mostly absentee father, Laurence Frazer, both she and her interior decorator mother worked, barely managing but helped by Frida’s scholarships and by friends, who gave them boxes of outgrown clothing.
Her life changed after her mother married again, to wealthy Randolph Leigh. Frida was much photographed and written about as a high-spirited and pretty debutante. One fascinating item was in the first column ever by Igor Cassini--later the legendary New York columnist “Cholly Knickerbocker”--whose brother Oleg became Jackie O’s favored designer.
Igor described a pre-WWII Chevy Chase Club evening when Mussolini’s visiting son, Vittorio, was lionized by all the debs, but only spent time with Frida Frazer. He went back to Italy, so the romance never blossomed further, but it is intriguing to think that if it had continued until Il Duce had an American daughter-in-law, Frida might have changed the course of history!
Brian Gallagher, president and CEO of the United Way of America, spoke at the United Nations of the significant impact of Frida’s lifelong work on such issues as affordable housing, child health, and care for homeless children. (Diane Lebson of the United Way of the National Capital Area told me of Frida’s great energy, and her readiness to help whenever needed.) Civil rights have always been important to her also. Both she and her mother carried signs on the Mall among the throng hearing Martin Luther King’s speech in 1963. In 2003 she again hoisted placards, marching against starting the war in Iraq.
Frida says that her own difficult childhood has given her empathy with the needy and taught her the importance of helping others. She began her philanthropic career aged 20, as a Junior Leaguer whose first assignment was to gather contributions, door-to-door, for the precursor to the present United Way. “I had no idea 73 years later I’d still be fundraising for them at 93.”
Her interest in charitable initiatives was deepened on marriage to Thacher Winslow, a Roosevelt-era New Deal arrival in Washington. He worked for the International Labor Organization, and died suddenly at only 47, leaving Frida with three young children. She has written of her grief, quoting Edna St. Vincent Millay: “Life goes on; I forget just why…”
She then worked in real estate, spending long days to support her family. She rebuilt her life and struggled to help her children adjust to being without their father.
Four years later, she married handsome and very successful Ed Burling, of the prestigious Covington & Burling law firm (whose officers, ever supportive of Frida’s endeavors, turned out at the UN for her special day).
Her second marriage was a happy one, as her first had been. She and Ed successfully combined their families. He has since passed away, and Frida now has five children, 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
When I asked her about the title of her fascinating, no-punches-pulled Finally Frida, she said, “I was always somebody’s daughter Frida, then somebody’s wife Frida. Now I am just myself, just--finally--Frida.”
I can’t agree. She has always been unique and multifaceted, and has always known exactly just who Frida is.
