Marguerite Wennergren

Opera Singer, Poet. Marguerite Gauntier Ligget, an American vocalist, gained professional acclaim for her vocal talent. Using her stage name of Marguerite Gauntier, she performed with a beautiful soprano voice. Born the youngest of three children, she was the sister of silent-film starlet, Gene Gauntier. Gauntier was their mother's maiden name. In 1909 she and her sister were traveling from New York City to Southampton, England on a Trans-Atlantic Ocean Liner, as she planned to study opera in Germany. In her hometown of Kansas City, she had studied under the German voice instructor, Herman Springer, and while continuing to develop her talent, she traveled to New York City to study under Oscar Sänger. On the ocean liner, she met a fellow-passenger, Axel Leonard Wenner-Gren, a millionaire Swedish industrialist. It was love-at-first-sight. When the ship docked in England, the couple were married on December 14, 1909 in a small, secret ceremony without her parent's knowledge. She continued with her studies as planned. She obtained her first engagement at the Elberfeld Opera where she sang all the major opera parts from "Mimi" to "Aida." After her success at Elberfeld, she performed at Mainz, where she soon became "the darling of the very demanding Mainzer public." From there, she had a contract with the Stockholm Opera. Between 1913 and 1915, she had 25 performances in Stockholm. She performed in "Carmen," "Madame Butterfly," "Faust" and in the title role in "Mignon." Suddenly she ended her career after her secret marriage was made public, stating she needed to fulfill her duties as a wife and a good hostess, and this would be the role brought her world-wide attention. She never sang again, not even in private. Shortly after their marriage, she and her husband were in an airplane crash but survived with non-serious injuries. Besides, being a hostess for her husband in their home, she traveled around the world at her husband's side. The couple lived in excess, traveling between their mansions and yachts around the world, always in the company of her beloved dogs, and socializing with the crème de la crème wherever they went. Their yacht, the "Southern Cross," was the largest yacht in the world at the time. They socialized with European royalty. In March of 1936, she and her husband were the private weekend guests of United States Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House. In the 1930s her husband purchased as a gift to her from millionaire Torsten Kreuger the beautifully remodeled Häringe Castle. Although the castle was grand, it was also a working farm year around. She had several large greenhouses on the property, growing beautiful flowers. She sold the flowers at a large department store with the funds earned going to charities. During World War II, the couple were suspected of Nazi sympathies, thus blacklisted by the Americans and the English. In 1941, her husband established the Viking Foundation, which is today the Wenner-Gren Foundation and is successful in supporting the education for research scientists. Using the name Marguerite Wenner-Gren, she published in the Swedish language several collections of poetry, including "Ekolod" in 1956, "How Short is Summer" in 1959 and "Flight in Fantasy" in 1960. She was coached by award-winning author Bertil Malmberg. From 1953, Malmberg was a member Swedish Academy, which nominated the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1940 she translated into English his 1924 book "Ake and his World," which is now a collector's item. After her sister retired from the film industry, she came to live with them at long periods until her death in December of 1966. She never had children, but she was a godmother to several children. After being diagnosed with stomach cancer, her husband seemed to rally after surgery, but she was never told how serious the situation was until the end. He died after a 52-year marriage. After her husband's death, the economic empire came down in a spectacular crash with mishandling of the estate. Every item in the castle was taken, even the shelves in the wine cellar. Even her personal jewelry was "stolen." The authorities learned that the jewelry was sold on the black market in London, yet the thieves were never named. She retreated from Sweden to her property of Rancho Cortez in Mexico. Upon her death, she was cremated, as were her husband and sister earlier, and the three urns were buried on the castle's grounds in a plot that contained 38 of their dogs and 2 domesticated roe deer. The plot is well-maintained with a chain around it and a huge natural -looking boulder marking the graves. In the 21st century, the still grand castle has become a four-star hotel.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Feb 28 2024, 6:03:51 UTC