MANHATTAN HATTER
Th e Manhattan Hatter’s
Tea Party
By Marion Bone
Community Storyteller
On the first weekend in December 2002, I took the initial step toward what
proved to be an exciting journey to meet a world renowned milliner in the
Big Apple.
The origin of this quest began two years
previously when I discovered that from our
little town of Lewisburg a young man had
emerged and gone on to become a top class
hat designer in New York City.
This fact had piqued my interest and
I had researched his background and the
path he had taken to achieve his success.
The man’s name was Jack McConnell,
born in 1916 and educated in Marshall
County. From this unlikely beginning, he
had broken into the higher echelons of
Haute Couture and ended up designing
hats for the leading actresses of stage and
screen.
I was not alone on this adventure as
I had arranged to meet Jeanette Warren,
who shared my interest and admiration for
Mr. McConnell and she was accompanied
by her daughter Rhonda.
Between us we had the temerity to
write a letter to Mr. McConnell expressing how much we admired his work. He, in
turn, responded by inviting us to visit with
him and we had no hesitation in accepting
his kind offer.
As a result we were now standing outside my house preparing to be driven to the
Nashville Airport with Jeanette’s husband
Don acting as our chauffeur.
The first part of the journey was without incident until, on our approach to La
Guardia Airport, when we were informed
by the pilot that we would be unable to
land because of a fierce snow storm and the
plane would have to be diverted to Albany.
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