Tears in Whoville
Dr. Seuss’ widow, Audrey Geisel, dies at 97
Audrey Geisel, the fiercely protective widow of children’s author Dr. Seuss and a noted philanthropist in Southern California, died Wednesday at age 97.
Her daughter told the Daily News she passed away after suffering a fall about two weeks ago in the same house she shared with her literary legend husband Theodor (Ted) Geisel, pen name Dr. Seuss, before his death in 1991.
“She was an active woman up until (the fall). She was trying to scoot out of bed and fell and hit a nightstand and couldn’t recover,” daughter Lark Grey Dimond-Cates told The News.
“She died at home just like Ted did. She had everyone around her who loved her. It was a circle of caring and love and protection. She led such a remarkable life.”
The daughter said Geisel had an “infectious enthusiasm” for life and proved a “happy influence” on her husband’s work following their marriage in 1968.
“She was a very happy spirit. She wasn’t just leading the parade, she was the parade,” Geisel told The News.
“My sister says our mom gave Ted’s life a second wind, and I agree. Wonderful books came out after they met. She’d look at his work and make helpful comments. They were very happy together. It was infectious to be around her,” she said.
She said when Ted died, her mother took up the mantle of leading his vast menagerie of fanciful characters into the 21st century.
The Chicago native founded Dr. Seuss Enterprises in 1993 to shepherd The Cat in the Hat, Horton, the Lorax and the Grinch into new projects to reach new generations of readers with their whimsical rhymes and mischievous mayhem.
Geisel worked as executive producer on several feature films, including “Horton Hears a Who!” featuring Jim Carrey, Carol Burnett and Steve Carell in 2008 and an animated remake of “The Grinch” that opened last month with Benedict Cumberbatch, Rashida Jones and Angela Lansbury lending their voices.
Geisel was born Audrey Stone on Aug. 14, 1921. Her parents broke up when she was little, and she later attended a nursing program at Indiana University, where she met her first husband, the father of her two adult daughters.
She and Ted were both married to others when they first met while living in La Jolla in the 1960s. His first wife, Helen, later committed suicide.
While her husband wrote political cartoons and commented on issues before their marriage, it was after they met that he published “The Lorax,” a story about environmentalism and “The Butter Battle Book,” a commentary on the nuclear arms race.
Known for her understated style and love of the ocean, Geisel encouraged her husband to think of his older audience — how the kids he first entertained in the 1950s were now reading his work to their own kids, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.
When anti-abortion groups picked up the famous “Horton Hears a Who!” mantra that “A person’s a person, no matter how small,” she was quick to complain.
Her lawyer demanded that a Canadian group remove the phrase from a poster depicting an embryo.
“She was very protective of his work and legacy,” DimondCates told The News. “He influenced her with his causes and concerns, and she expanded on that.”
Geisel gave major donations to the University of California at San Diego as well as the San Diego Zoo.
“She had so many interests. So many areas she cared about. She was devoted to helping worthy causes in San Diego,” Dimond-Cates said.