Evening star., 1947-04-25
villa Gather 70, Dies;
Won Pulitzer Prize
For Novel in 1923
BY The Associated Press

CaCner, W, Puiitzer prIze-Winn1ne
novelist, died OF a cerebral hemor.
rhage late yesterday.
Her works included MY Antonia'
1918l, Death Comes for the Arch.
bishop" d92D and her last Sap.
|phira and the Slave Girl (1940).
The Pulitzer award was given fol
lone of Ours In 1923.
Although born in Virginia, Villa
Sibert Gather was reared in Ne.
braska and many of her novels hao
Midwestern settings.
Miss Gather was for six years man
aging editor of McClure's Magazine
before beginning her career as q
novelist. Her first novel was ALEX
ander's Bridge" published in 1912
Earlier, however, she had published
verse and short stories.
Wrote Of Prairies.
She had lived In New York many
years.
Surviving are two sisters, Miss
Elsie Gather OF Lincoln, Nebr., and
Mrs. Jessica C. Aud of Palo Alto
Calf, and two brothers, John E
Gather Of Whittier, Calf, and James
D. Gather OF Long Beach, Calf.
Miss Gather found her meter in
authorship which put into concise,
delicately nodded fiction, the peo-
pie of the Western prairies and
brought her recognition at home
and abroad as one of the outstand-
ing writer's of her time.
She was a newspaper writer and
high school teacher in Pittsburgh
and a magazine editor in New York
before she turned definitely to the
novel, Her earlier works included
many short stories and she also
turned out acceptable poetry.
Born Near Winchester.
Miss Gather was born near Win
chester, Va, on farm which had
belonged to her great-grandfather,
Her mothers forbears, too, had been
Virginia farmers.
When Villa was years old her
father. took his family to Nebraska
and bought ranch near Red Cloud
1t was thinly settled region, de-
voted largely to feeding cattle driven
up from Texas. There was no dis
trict school and Villa spent most
of her days riding her pony to the
farms and ranches of the Gathers
neighbors.
Many Of those neighbors were
Scandinavians. Others were Bo-
hemian or German. Hail, prairie
fires, drouths in summer, bitter
blizzards in winter and periodic
plaques of grasshoppers combined to
make existence struggle for all OF
them. Customs and language made
them interesting to the Virginia girl
Read the Classics.
But If she lacked formal schooling
her education was by no means
neglected. Evenings she read Eng.
lish classics, often aloud to her two
grandmothers. She learned Latin
also.
AS she reached high school age
the family moved into the town O!
Red Cloud and she entered high
school then she went to the Uni.
versity of Nebraska at Lincoln anc
was graduated from that institution
in 1895.
She chose Pittsburgh for her frs
work because she had persona
friends there. She was on the staff
of the Daily Leader, off and on, unit
1901, being telegraph editor for 9
time and dramatic critic for another
period. But every summer she tool
time off to return to the ranches o.
Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming.
In the autumn Of 1901 she became
head of the English department. in
Allegheny High School. She was
beginning to write for magazines
and in 1908 she published a book
OF verse. The next year she sent
a collection of short stories to q
New York publishing house. 1t came
to the attention of S. S. Mcclure
he sent for her, published her book
and in 1906 gave her a place on the
editorial staff of his magazine.
Travelled in Europe.
Two years later she became man.
aging editor of McClure,s and for
four years did virtually no writing
But she travelled in Europe, Arizona
and New Mexico.
"Alexander's Bridge" was her first
novel. It was followed by 20 Pho
neers!" G913) and "The Song of
the Lark" Q915).
In 1923 she produced "a Lost
Lady," considered by many to be
her masterpiece. She wrote "The
Fortunate Mistress" in 1924, "The
Professors House" in 1925, my
Mortal Enemy" in 1926, and then,
in 1927, she added to her fame with
Death Comes to the Archbishop"
a tale of pioneer missionaries in
the Southwest.
There was an interval of four
years until her next novel, "Shad-
ows on the Rock" its locale being
Quebec. 1t appeared in 1881, be-
came big success and in 1882 was
awarded the Prix Femina in France.
In that latter year she published
Obscure Destinies.'
The honorary degree of Lift. D.
was conferred on Miss Gather by
the University of Michigan in 1924.
Columbia University gave her the
same distinction in 1929 and vaJe