Elizabeth Blegen’s great-niece visits the School
Barb and Monte Garrabrant with Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan
A month ago I received an e-mail which started like this: "My mother, Elizabeth Pierce Harding, was named for her aunt, Elizabeth Pierce Blegen. My mom's father, (EP Blegen's brother) Robert McKnight Pierce died in 1935." A month later, on October 1st, Barbara Pierce Harding Garrabrant and her husband Monte visited the American School on their way to the Peloponnese. It was the first time in decades that a relative of Elizabeth Pierce Blegen visited the School. They were excited to see her papers and watercolors, some of which decorate the School's buildings, and to share with me photographic material that they own, as well as knowledge about the origins of the Pierce family. For instance, it was news to me and others that Elizabeth Blegen's father was half native American, a member of the Walla Walla tribe.