Winkie

From Mary Wingfield Scott:

This book is a collection of articles by and about Mary Wingfield Scott (PDF) and centered around her unpublished autobiography which she wrote as therapy when she was recovering from a stroke that left her paralyzed on the right side.

Winkie took no prisoners in her battles to save old buildings, and she was famously eccentric. I remember back in the 1980s she called me at home about something, and after talking about the subject at hand, she asked “How’s the family?” I was in mid-sentence with an answer as I heard the phone go click. She did this routinely and would simply end a phone call whenever she felt like it and she never signed off or said ‘goodbye’. So the last chapter of this book is to ask “How’s the family” about her own family.

Winkie’s books are still the bibles of Richmond architectural history. She was instrumental in the preservation of Linden Row, Oregon Hill and Church Hill, and she has been an inspiration for generations of preservationists who have followed in her footsteps.