Betty Cordon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
July 14, 1923
model
philanthropist
Betty Cordon | |
|---|---|
| Born | Betty Green Cordon July 14, 1923 |
| Died | May 17, 2012 (aged 88) St. Simons, Georgia, U.S. |
| Education | Cathedral School of Saint Mary |
| Occupation(s) | socialite model philanthropist |
| Known for | 1941 New York's Glamour Girl |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Sutton Saalfield Jr. (m. 1942; div) Frank Fordyce Silver (m. 1978) |
| Children | 4 |
Betty Green Cordon Silver (July 14, 1923 – May 17, 2012) was an American debutante, socialite, and philanthropist. She was a leading debutante in North Carolina and member of New York City's café society who was dubbed "New York's Number One Glamour Girl" by Sherman Billingsley, the owner of the Stork Club, in 1941, and the "Nation's Number One Debutante" by The Wilmington Star in 1942. During World War II, she volunteered with the American Women's Voluntary Services and was featured in advertisement campaigns for Woodbury Soap Company. In 1956, Cordon was named "Woman of the Year" by the Association of Junior Leagues of America.
Cordon was born on July 14, 1923 in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, to Elizabeth Cordon and Robert Windley Cordon and grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina.[1][2] She later moved with her parents to New York City, where they lived at 1070 Park Avenue.[3][2] Cordon was the great-granddaughter of Rev. Robert Bowen Windley, an Episcopal priest who served as the rector at Zion Episcopal Church in Washington, North Carolina.[1] She was descended from American Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene and from William Cordon, a colonial planter who received a land grant in the Province of Carolina from the Lords Proprietor in 1729.[2]
She was educated at the Cathedral School of Saint Mary, an Episcopal all-girls school in Garden City, Long Island, graduating in 1941.[2]