Post by Graveyardbride on May 4, 2014 13:04:52 GMT -5
Dead New Orleans Socialite Attends Own Wake in Style
NEW ORLEANS – Mickey Easterling died two weeks ago, but the socialite is not letting death get in the way of attending a party held in her honor.
Mrs. Easterling, who died April 14, greeted the guests at her wake – a cocktail party – with a glass of champagne in hand. The socialite was dolled up with a boa and fancy hat, and had a cigarette in her other hand while sitting propped up at the front of the room, family members said.
"It's a really nice way to say, 'The party's over,'" said Nanci Myke Easterling, the late socialite's daughter, according to The Advocate. "She loved the limelight. She loved the attention. She was flamboyant. She had flair. She was outrageous."
More than a thousand mourners, including musician Allen Tousaint, were present during the "jazzy soiree" wake that was held at the Saenger Theater, and they said the late socialite was the center of attention.
Mrs. Easterling's longtime friend and makeup artist, Sammy Steele III, said he carefully dressed the lady for the special occasion. "My goal was to make her look even prettier than she was in real life. Because she was a larger-than-life person."
Family members declined to release the matriarch's age because Mickey Easterling once said, "Age is a number, and mine is unlisted."
Born Marycathyren Gambino, the late socialite hosted many fundraisers, both for charity and politics, in her home, where she also welcomed guests such as singers Paul Simon and Robert Goulet, actor Larry Hagman, writer and composer Paul Bowles, as well as politicians, including former Gov. Edwin Edwards, and retired Gen. Wesley Clark, according to news reports.
Retired University of New Orleans professor Kenneth Holditch said Easterling had an infectious laugh and "a very distinctive voice. Thinking about her, I thought about the phrase 'the grand gesture,'" Holditch said.
Nanci Easterling said the flamboyant personality of her mother, who "grew up in a large Catholic family of nine," didn't show itself until after she and her husband, Vern, divorced. "My mother was coming into her own as being her own person, becoming the Mickey Easterling we've come to know," she said.
Mrs. Easterling is survived by her son Ed Easterling of Corvallis, Oregon, and daughter Nanci Easterling of New Orleans.
Source: Fashion Times, April 30, 2014.
