More About Food Editor Grace Barr

This morning, Lance & I went down to the Orange County Regional History Center to go through the papers of Graham Barr. He was the son of Orlando Sentinel food editor Grace Warlow Barr.

I learned quite a bit about Grace. She attended Goucher College in Baltimore before marrying Leal Barr. The couple had twins: Gracia and Graham. They divorced in 1936 and she joined the Sentinel in 1940 to support her family. She initially became the society editor with a column called “Cynthia’s Tea Table Chatter.” The column ended in 1964 and she focused on food. She was the food editor until her retirement in 1969. Her cookbook, Cooking with Grace, was published in 1970.

She had an active social life but never remarried. Yet, she often told her children: “Your Father was enough. I’ll never make that mistake again.” That was according to her son’s memoir.

Barr was good friends with Women’s Page Editor Dorothy Chapman who took over as food editor when Barr retired. I will write about Chapman in my next post.

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