{"id":34430,"date":"2018-12-24T18:34:37","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T18:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=34430"},"modified":"2018-12-24T18:34:37","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T18:34:37","slug":"little-girl-was-immortalized-then-she-grew-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=34430","title":{"rendered":"Little girl was immortalized, then she grew up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/untitled-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-34431\" src=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/untitled-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/untitled-2.png 300w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/untitled-2-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Have you ever wondered what happened to Virginia O&#8217;Hanlon after she wrote that famous letter to the New York Sun asking if Santa Claus really existed?<\/p>\n<p>I have. Maybe you have, too. If that&#8217;s the case, here&#8217;s what I have learned.<\/p>\n<p>Virginia lived to the ripe age of 81. She died in a nursing home in 1971.<\/p>\n<p>But before that &#8212; and after she wrote the letter that prompted the timeless editorial that assured her that &#8220;Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus&#8221; &#8212; she became a teacher. She earned her master&#8217;s degree from Columbia University and her doctorate from Fordham University.<\/p>\n<p>Virginia married and had children. She moved from New York City to another community in New York.<\/p>\n<p>I presume she lived a quiet, normal life. I am glad to know she got to grew old. I hope her family was near her when she died.<\/p>\n<p>Virginia&#8217;s grandson, James Temple, said this in 2004 about his immortal grandmother, noting something she had said to him: &#8220;All I did was ask the question . . . Mr. Church&#8217;s editorial was so beautiful . . . It was Mr. Church who did something wonderful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mr. Church&#8221; was Francis Pharcellus Church, who penned those words in 1897 answering the question of a little girl.<\/p>\n<p>That golden prose will stand the test of time forever and ever.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever wondered what happened to Virginia O&#8217;Hanlon after she wrote that famous letter to the New York Sun asking if Santa Claus really existed? I have. Maybe you have, too. If that&#8217;s the case, here&#8217;s what I have learned. Virginia lived to the ripe age of 81. She died in a nursing home &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=34430\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Little girl was immortalized, then she grew up<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[6745,8237,8238],"class_list":["post-34430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-news","tag-francis-pharcellus-church","tag-new-york-sun","tag-virginia-ohanlon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34432,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34430\/revisions\/34432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}