One Week, Two Cities: Our Mission Continues

New York, NY

Stepping out of Penn Station onto the streets of New York City, I instinctively looked up. The towering buildings were mesmerizing, the streets humming with a hustle and bustle in stark contrast to the elegant, open boulevards of Washington DC, where Pierre L’Enfant’s vision keeps the sky always visible and the monuments always admired. I paused for just a moment to take it all in. Then it hit me. My grandmother, Marie Edmée LeRoux, walked these very streets in 1918 when she answered General Pershing’s call, trained with AT&T at 195 Broadway, several blocks away. I was sharing a similar space with her but separated by 109 years. A genealogist once described this to me as a shared moment in the same place, separated by time, and how this kind of experience could help give a different sort of connection when lacking in material mementos from an ancestor.

Carolyn Timbie, granddaughter of Hello Girls chief operator Grace Banker of Group 1, received the initial invitation and kindly requested two additional invitations for Donna Ayres, great niece of Hello Girl Melania Olive Shaw of Group 2, and myself. It was 8 May 2026, and I had come to New York City for a concert reading of The Hello Girls Musical at the Baryshnikov Arts Center at 450 West 37th Street (https://baryshnikovarts.org). But before this pivotal milestone in the Hello Girls Musical’s attempt to gain a foothold on Broadway, Carolyn and Donna traveled together from New Hampshire a day earlier. They had already been hard at work on a mission of remembrance.

Carolyn and Donna had come to New York with a combined purpose. Among the eight Hello Girls we have identified with a connection to Belgium, either by birth or burial location, one of them, Edith “Doddie” Dodson, lies in an unmarked grave at Maple Grove Cemetery (www.maplegrovecenter.org) in Queens, NY. She is not the only Hello Girl interred here. Hello Girl Jeanne Bourquin, who completed her training and was assigned to the 7th Group, which never deployed to France before the armistice, died of the Spanish Influenza on 13 October 1918 in Hartford, CT, and is buried in a marked grave in a family plot.

L to R: Friends of Maple Grove cemetery historian Carl Ballenas and genealogist Helen Day., at the marker of the family plot where Hello Girl Jeanne Bourquin is interred.

Maple Grove Cemetery, founded in 1875, is a historic 65 acre rural cemetery in Queens, NY, known for its beautiful grounds, mature trees and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Carolyn and Donna made their way there to confirm what our research had suggested. They were warmly received by Friends of Maple Grove (https://www.friendsofmaplegrove.org) Board of Directors members, historian Carl Ballenas and genealogist Helen Day, who walked them through the grounds. What they found confirmed it. Doddie’s grave was unmarked.

L to R: Carolyn Timbie and Donna Ayres standing at the unmarked grave of Hello Girl Edith “Doddie” Dodson where they placed flowers and an American flag on May 7, 2026 at Maple Grove Cemetery, Queens, NY.

Before they left, they placed a flag and flowers on the site, a small but meaningful act of recognition for a woman whose service to her country has gone unacknowledged for over a century. Maple Grove is no ordinary cemetery. It is a vibrant, living place with a performing arts center that hosts events honoring those interred there. Doddie Dodson could not have a more fitting resting place. Now we just need to make sure she is properly honored in it. We are aiming for a military honors grave marker dedication ceremony in 2027 and Carolyn will share more details in her upcoming article in our ongoing series, Finding the Hello Girls: A Journey to….

L to R: Donna Ayres and Carolyn Timbie, with photo being taken by Catherine Bourgin. Lunch at the Parisian Tea Room in NYC.

Just a couple of blocks from Penn Station, the three of us met for lunch on Friday, May 8, 2026 at a charming cafe, the Parisian Tea Room (www.theparisiantearoom.com) before making our way together to the Baryshnikov Arts Center (https://baryshnikovarts.org). We were warmly greeted by the organizers and, to our delight, announced to the audience as granddaughters and grandniece of real WWI Hello Girls. The audience applauded warmly. In that moment, our presence seemed to signal something important to the room, that this story is not just history. It is personal. It is real. And it is still very much alive.

L to R: Hello Girls descendants Catherine Bourgin, Donna Ayres and Carolyn Timbie with Cara Reichel, theater director, writer and producer (www.carareichel.com) and Peter Mills, composer and songwriter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mills_(composer)

Greeting the actor, Gracie, portraying Hello Girl chief Grace Banker after the concert reading.

The concert reading of The Hello Girls Musical was a revelation. This was my second time seeing it, having attended an earlier version at the Kennedy Center in May 2024, but this production had been reimagined specifically for Broadway. More actors, a separate ensemble of musicians, a presentation style crafted for the discerning tastes of a Broadway audience. The room was filled not with the general public but with theater industry professionals, owners, managers and investors, the very people who decide which stories make it to Broadway. Watching them sit transfixed as melodious voices brought the Hello Girls’ true story to life was something to behold.

Above and below: The audience of theater owners, managers and investors during intermission.

When the performance ended with time to spare, we made our way to a nearby spot where Carolyn, Donna and I did what any self-respecting Hello Girls descendants would do. We raised a glass of French 75s, that classic WWI era sparkling cocktail of gin, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup and Champagne, and toasted our grandmothers and great aunt.

Carolyn, Donna and Catherine raise French 75s.

Then I said my goodbyes, and with a 6:45 p.m. train to catch, I made my way to Penn Station, pausing once more to look up at the towering skyline before heading home to Washington. It had been a long day. But what an adventure!

Leaving New York.

Washington, DC

Ten days later on 18 May 2026, I was back on familiar ground standing in the bright sunshine at the National World War One Memorial at Pershing Park located at 14th and Pennsylvania Ave, NW in Washington, DC. The sky was a brilliant blue, the sun was blazing, and the temperature had soared to 98 degrees Fahrenheit. I was joined by Linda Jantzen, Ret. Col. U.S. Army Signal Corps and Diane Boettcher, Ret. CAPT. USN. We were there for the Annual In Flanders Fields Memorial event, co-hosted by the Doughboy Foundation and H.E. Frederic Bernard, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium, Paul Hegge, General Representative of Flanders, and Brigadier General Marco Madile, Belgian Defense Attaché. The gathering brought together diplomats, military representatives and historians from Belgium, New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Germany, Canada and the United States, all assembled to honor the shared sacrifice of the nations who fought together in Flanders during the First World War.

L to R: Doughboy Foundation bugler Mike Delaune; Australian military representative; Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium H.E. Frederic Bernard;Paul Hegge, General Representative of Flanders; Clair Sassin, Doughboy Foundation CEO; Dan Dayton Founder and Chair Emeritus of the Doughboy Foundation; Germany military representative; and Thomas Baume, Director of Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen, Belgium.

National World War One Memorial at Pershing Park in Washington D.C.

L to R: Linda Jantzen, Ret. Col. U.S. Army Signal Corps, Diane Boettcher, Ret. Capt. USN, and Hello Girl granddaughter Catherine Bourgin at the National WWI Memorial for the annual In Flanders Field Memorial event on 18 May 2026.

Wreaths were laid at the memorial. Remarks were made. Then the assembled guests moved indoors, finding welcome relief from the heat at a reception in the Willard Offices, before the second half of the program began with presentations by Thomas Baum, Director of Kazerne Dossin, a memorial, museum and documentation center of the Holocaust (https://kazernedossin.eu),  spoke about “Between Memory and History: How Societies Carry the Weight of the Past”; Paul Hegge, General Representative of Flanders,  spoke about “The First WORLD War: 116 Different Countries in Flanders Fields”; and Marco Frank, “Flanders Fields Today”, Visit Flanders of the Belgium Tourist Office.

Before the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium departed for an official dinner, Diane Boettcher, Ret. USN CAPT, Hello Girls researcher, and I had a brief but significant moment. We found him in the crowd and placed in his hands a list she had prepared, the names of eight Hello Girls with a connection to Belgium, each with two biographical points telling her story. The Ambassador was gracious and attentive, but he had not yet realized his country’s connection to the Hello Girls. We told him about Edith “Doddie” Dodson, the Belgian-connected Hello Girl lying in an unmarked grave in Queens, New York. We told him that we would like his support in honoring her properly. Without hesitation, he turned and called over Filip Vanden Bulcke, the Consul General of New York City. Together they listened. Together they said yes. “When and where” was their generous reply. It was an exhilarating moment in a crowded room, and it may prove to be another important moment of awakening forgotten, shared history in our mission so far.

Presentation of Hello Girls with the names of eight Hello Girls with a connection to Belgium.

After the thought-provoking presentation by Thomas Baum, I stood before the remaining audience of military representatives and historians and told my grandmother’s story. Edmée LeRoux, a young bilingual woman from Montreal, who studied singing, won a French government scholarship to study in Paris, and then set it all aside to answer her country’s call. The Flanders Group’s mission is to bring history alive through personal stories, to supplement the facts of battles, generals and military strategy with the human voices behind them. It is a growing movement among museums and historical organizations who understand that as time carries us further from these events, it is the personal story that keeps history breathing. The Hello Girls are exactly that kind of story.

Hello Girl granddaughter Catherine Bourgin presenting during the Flanders Memorial event reception in the Willard Offices.

In Summary

In one extraordinary week, their story reached a Broadway stage and a Belgian Ambassador’s hands. It was performed for theater investors who could bring it to millions, and spoken into the ear of a diplomat who said yes. From an unmarked grave in Queens to the steps of the National World War One Memorial, the Hello Girls’ mission continues.

The year 2027 may prove to be a grand year, with the possibility of the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal ceremony on Capitol Hill and military honors grave marker dedication ceremonies for Hello Girl Edith Dodson, Group 2, in Queens, NY, and Hello Girl Louise Eugenie Maclin, Group 4, in Linden, NJ. Until then, the Hello Girls research team continues the hunt for their burial locations and living descendants. Our mission continues.

Please consider supporting the Hello Girls Military Honors and Remembrance Program (M-HARP) of the Doughboy Foundation. 

Please consider supporting Ft Lincoln Cemetery’s Wreaths Across America program where two Hello Girls, Edmée LeRoux and Miriam de Jersey Glenum, are interred: https://go.wreathsacrossamerica.org/HelloGirls

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