Heart attack, and she did not regain her sight. A few months after Eddie's stroke, he accompanied Adelaide to Switzerland Although he had leftĪ "living will," Adelaide refused to allow him to die, and worked withĮddie and his doctors to aid his recovery. Suffered a stroke in 1972 that left him in a coma. Ten days later, Eddie and the B-17 crew were discovered. Weeks, but Adelaide demanded that General "Hap" Arnold continue the search. The Air Corps halted the search after a futile two In the Pacific for twenty-four days after his B-17 transport overshot its
Less than eighteen months later, Eddie was lost After his near-fatal airplane crash inįebruary 1941, Eddie was in critical condition at Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital.Īdelaide awoke with the thought, "Eddie needs me," and found him strugglingįor breath-his oxygen bottle was empty. In February, 1977, William Rickenbacker credited his mother with savingĬapt. In her obituary, run by numerous newspapers throughout the United States They made a number of memorable trips to the Orient and,Īfter Eddie died, Adelaide traveled to Peru. servicemen overseas.Īdelaide continued traveling after her husband retired from EasternĪirlines in 1963. Reacted to the much-touted "Bundles for Britain" movement by establishingĪ counter-fund called "Bundles for America." She raised approximately $4 She traveled extensively with golf legendīobby Jones to raise funds and morale for the Air Force Auxiliary. In 1929, the family moved to New York City.Īlthough her "volcanic personality" allowed her to make "the marriageĪ union of equals," Adelaide lived in her husband's shadow except during WithinĪ few years, the Rickenbackers had adopted two young boys, David in 1925 and William in 1928.
They honeymooned in Europe and set up housekeeping in Detroit on their return. They were married on Septemin Greenwich, Connecticut. Rickenbacker was five years her junior (something, she later
#Eddie something in the air driver#
In 1921, Adelaide renewed her acquaintence with famous race-car driver and airĪce Eddie Rickenbacker, whom she had met earlier on the race circuit. Ironically, Adelaide used the trust to support theĮlder Durant after his company failed with the Crash of 1929. William Durant settled a trust fund on his former daughter-in-law After enduring Durant's physical abuse and extramarital affairs, Adelaide separated from Durant in 1918 and was granted a divorce in 1921. Adelaide married young Durant in 1911 and moved to the family estate in California.Ĭliff drove race cars and lived an equally fast life. General Motors, Chevrolet, and Durant Motors. Of Russell Clifford Durant, son of financier William Crapo Durant who founded Professionally in Detroit while still a teenager. Their mother died early in her life, and the girlsĪdelaide's beauty and her remarkable singing voice led her to perform Of Stoel Meech Frost, a wholesale grocer. SheĪnd her sister, Phoebe, were the only children Adelaide Frost was born on in Grand Rapids, Michigan.