For the Canadian sculptor, see Edie Parker (artist).
Edie Parker
Born
(1922-09-20)September 20, 1922
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died
October 29, 1993(1993-10-29) (aged 71)
Grosse Pointe, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation
Writer
Spouses
Jack Kerouac
(m. 1944; ann. 1946)
Michael Dietz
(m. 1950; div. 1959)
Patrick Garvin
(m. 1959; div. 1969)
Edie Kerouac-Parker (September 20, 1922 – October 29, 1993)[1] was the author of the memoir You'll Be Okay, about her life with her first husband, Jack Kerouac, and the early days of the Beat Generation. While an art student under George Grosz at Barnard College, she and fellow Barnard student and friend Joan Vollmer shared an apartment on 118th Street in New York City which came to be frequented by many of the then unknown Beats, among them Vollmer's eventual husband William S. Burroughs, and fellow Columbia students Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg as well as Lucien Carr.[2]
Born Frances Edith Parker in Detroit, to Walter Milton Parker, Jr. (1892-1954) and Charlotte Frances (née Maire) Parker (1892-1979), and was raised in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. The 18-year old Edie met Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (aka Jack Kerouac) while an art student at Columbia University. The couple were married on August 22, 1944 at Manhattan Municipal Building in a civil ceremony in downtown New York. At the time, Jack was in jail as an accessory after the fact in Lucien Carr's murder of David Kammerer.[3] This event expedited their intention to marry as Jack's father, Leo, refused to bail him out of jail. Jack was released from jail long enough for him and Edie to be escorted downtown by two NYPD detectives to be married. Once married, Edie could access an inheritance from her grandfather's then-unprobated estate to post Kerouac's bail. The couple left New York on a train in September 1944 to relocate to Michigan, where they would live together briefly in the Grosse Pointe Park home of her mother and younger sister, Charlotte Frances (nee Parker) Pattison (1926–2009). Edie and Jack separated only two months after their wedding, with Jack leaving Michigan in October 1944 to head back to New York while Edie remained in Grosse Pointe Park. Two years later Edie filed for a Decree of Annulment in September 1946, and the marriage would be invalidated by the Archdiocese of Detroit in April 1952.[4]
She attended Michigan State University for one semester to study Horticulture in Fall 1948. She would marry and divorce two more times between 1950 and 1969, to Michael Dietz (1915-1981) and Patrick Garvin (1930-2005), and would then remain single for the rest of her life. In the 1980s and early 1990s she made personal appearances, locally in Metro Detroit and at special events across the US, billed as 'Frankie Edie Kerouac-Parker,' discussing her memoir writing, involvement with the Beats, and her relationship with Jack Kerouac. Edie died in Grosse Pointe on 29 Oct 1993 from heart disease and diabetes.[5]
Edie appears as Judie Smith in Kerouac's novel The Town and the City, Elly in Visions of Cody, Edna "Johnnie" Palmer of Vanity of Duluoz, and herself in "The Original Scroll" – the unedited edition of On the Road. Edie was played by actress Elizabeth Olsen in the film Kill Your Darlings. Edie's memoir, You'll Be Okay – My Life with Jack Kerouac, was published posthumously in 2007 by City Lights.
^"Edie Parker Kerouac and Henri Cru Papers, 1887–2004". UNC. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
^Knight, Brenda (1998). Women of the Beat generation: the writers, artists, and muses at the heart of revolution. Conari. pp. 76–86. ISBN 978-1-57324-138-0.
Edie Kerouac-Parker (September 20, 1922 – October 29, 1993) was the author of the memoir You'll Be Okay, about her life with her first husband, Jack Kerouac...
New York's Upper West Side with his girlfriend and future first wife, EdieParker. It was during this time that he first met the Beat Generation figures...
century Canadian-born American novelist EdieParker (1922–1993), American memoirist, first wife of Jack Kerouac Edie Sedgwick (1943–1971), American heiress...
Rising Star Award at the 66th British Academy Film Awards. She played EdieParker, novelist Jack Kerouac's first wife and the author of the Beat Generation...
circle. While a student at Barnard College, she became the roommate of EdieParker (later married to Jack Kerouac). Their apartment became a gathering place...
introduced him to Kammerer and Burroughs. Carr also knew Kerouac's girlfriend EdieParker, through whom Burroughs met Kerouac in 1944. On August 13, 1944, Carr...
recording of a Brahms trio. Soon after, a young woman Carr had befriended, EdieParker, introduced Carr to her boyfriend, Jack Kerouac, then twenty-two and...
him out but Burroughs was bailed out by his family. (Kerouac married EdieParker while in jail, and she then paid his bail.) The book's title allegedly...
Dennison), Herbert Huncke (as Junky), David Kammerer (as Waldo Meister), EdieParker (as Judie Smith) and also Joan Vollmer (as Mary Dennison) – though she...
1976 The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case Myra Condon TV film 1976 Delvecchio EdieParker Episode: "The Silent Prey" 1976 The Bionic Woman Sister Barbara Episode:...
the beat movement was the modern jazz pioneered by saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, which the media dubbed bebop. Jack Kerouac...
Audio One Fast Move or I'm Gone (2009) People Jan Kerouac (daughter) EdieParker (first wife) Neal Cassady Allen Ginsberg Gregory Corso William S. Burroughs...
by Kent Sublette. It stars Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, Dean Norris, Nik Dodani, Brandon Flynn, and Parker Posey. A young gay couple, Rohan and...
Dave Sherman David Kammerer Dave Stroheim Jerry Newman Danny Richman EdieParker Elly Allan Temko Allen Minko Bill Tomson Earl Johnson Ed Uhl Ed Wehle...
National Book Award for Fiction recipient Iris Owens (1929–2008), novelist EdieParker (1940s), author; first wife of Jack Kerouac Helena Percas de Ponseti...
runners-up at $100,000 each). 2014: Paul Andrew (Winner), Wes Gordon, EdieParker and Simon Miller 2015: Becca McCharen-Tran of Chromat; Rio Uribe of Gypsy...
(1918–1996), printmaker and sculptor Mimi Parent (1924–2005), painter EdieParker (born 1956), artist Roula Partheniou (born 1977), artist Andrew James...
on to the present. Their last US chart record "Hallelujah", was shown as Parker and Penny. Their 1960 song "We Got Us" was not released as a hit single...
Memorial Ontario Police Memorial Ontario Veterans' Memorial Our Game, EdieParker The Pasture Pillars of Justice, Edwina Sandys Post One Monument Princes'...
period would later be known as the Beat Generation figures, including EdieParker, Lucien Carr, Allen Ginsberg (who shared a room with Chase), William...
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