Dear Mad'm, Who Was She?
Peter Walthall Lismer is a great nephew of Stella Walthall Patterson, author of Dear Mad'm. He knew little of his great aunt while growing up, but in later life, along with his wife, Liz, searched every avenue that shed light on her life. Pete spent thirty years first in the National Guard and later Army Reserves, and was employed by the National Cash Register. He loved a variety of sports including twenty-eight years of racing and sailing sailboats.Elizabeth Kellam Lismer was in the education field for forty years, many of those years teaching Spanish and French. She had a Fulbright Exchange and taught English in France for a year. Pete and Liz both loved France and bought a home to live there half of each year. Having a yen for genealogy, Liz traced every avenue to construct the life which "Dear Mad'm" had led.