Fay King Imhoff

Fay King Imhoff
Black and white photo of a white woman with dark hair sitting at a desk and using an elaborate pen to draw on a heavy piece of paper
Imhoff c. 1952
Born
Fay King

(1904-11-11)November 11, 1904
New Burnside, Illinois
DiedApril 13, 1989(1989-04-13) (aged 84)
Fort Myers, Florida
OccupationCalligrapher
Known forInvitations to presidential inaugurations
SpouseLawrence E. Imhoff (m. 1950)

Fay King Imhoff (11 November 1904 – 13 April 1989) was an American calligrapher. Her work in Washington, D.C., included producing invitations for the inaugurations of presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon.

Early life

She was born Fay King into a farming family in New Burnside, Illinois, on 11 November 1904. As a child, her father criticized her handwriting, and she began to focus on improving her presentation, taking any opportunity she found to study penmanship.

She studied at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, earning a teaching certificate before she was 17, and worked for a decade as a teacher before moving to Washington to work for Louisiana congressman James H. Morrison. There, she met Ohio congressman Lawrence E. Imhoff, whom she would marry in 1950.

Career

During World War II Imhoff worked as a cryptographer and lived in London. While there, she produced an illuminated copy of the royal coat of arms which she presented to the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.

Her first major calligraphy commission occurred in 1946 when a committee asked her to prepare invitations for dignitaries invited to a memorial for Franklin D. Roosevelt. She went on to illuminate a scroll granting a citizenship award to Douglas MacArthur, and then was asked to prepare 30,000 invitations to Truman's inauguration. She made 50,000 for Eisenhower's first inauguration, 52,000 for his second, and 125,000 for Kennedy's. A television crew once filmed her preparing an invitation in approximately 22.5 seconds.

Between inaugurations, she was employed in the federal government. Imhoff could skillfully reproduce signatures and was authorized to sign official documents on behalf of certain government officials.

Later life

Imhoff and her husband retired to Fort Myers, Florida in 1964. She died in Fort Myers on 13 April 1989. Her husband had died the previous year.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sheehan, Amy (6 April 1989). "Fay Imhoff's Elegant Script Lives on in Historic Papers". News-Press. p. 24.
  2. 1 2 3 Ruediver, Steve (7 January 1972). "Mrs. Imhoff's Handwriting Is Seen On Many Walls". The Tampa Tribune. p. 41.
  3. ↑ Keegan, Peter (27 December 1958). "Washington Inside Out". The Oklahoma Courier. p. 8.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Say, Lillian Porter (14 December 1952). "Gifted Woman Takes Pen in Hand to Add Flourish to Inauguration". The Oregon Daily Journal. p. 57.
  5. 1 2 3 "Invited to Inauguration? Fay Imhoff Addressed It". Asbury Park Press. WNS. 25 December 1960. p. 23.
  6. ↑ "Ex-Herrin Pen Artist Retires". Southern Illinoisan. 15 June 1954. p. 10.