Katherine Anne Porter Remembered

John Prince

40 / John Prince John Prince (1922–), a virginian and a graduate of the University of north carolina and the University of missouri, was a friend of marcella Winslow, through whom he met Katherine Anne Porter in the early 1950s. Prince, who had studied at the cordon bleu in Paris and worked in a catering business in Washington, dc, shared an interest in cooking with Porter, who had taken a few classes at the cordon bleu herself. He often praised Porter’s cooking talents, and Prince and his wife, catherine, frequently shared dinners and parties with Porter after she rented a house in Georgetown on Q street, not far from the Princes’ house on twentyninth street. between 1959 and 1964 Porter and the Princes were good friends, and the Princes helped her in a number of practical ways that included finding an accountant for her (Harry Perry) and escorting her to social events such as the surrey races at foxhall to celebrate her seventieth birthday (1960) and the party Atlantic–Little, brown threw in 1962 to celebrate the publication of Ship of Fools. they also became well acquainted with her friends Glenway Wescott, monroe Wheeler, and eudora Welty. the friendship between Porter and the Princes unraveled in 1964, after she reneged on the purchase of a Georgetown house that John Prince, who was working for a real estate firm at the time, had brokered with difficulty. When he heard that Porter had blamed him for the financial and legal mess she created, he wrote up an account of the sequence of events that led to the end of the friendship and placed it with his and his wife’s papers at the University of maryland, college Park. source: John Prince, untitled and unpublished reminiscence, Papers of John and catherine Prince, special collections, University of maryland, college Park. in the fall of 1963, mina curtiss put her Georgetown house up for sale.13 it was a handsome, restored brick house, and she had spent a great deal of money on it— including the putting-up of eighteenth century english paneling in the drawing room. i was given an exclusive listing until february 1, 1964, for the sale of the house. mrs. curtiss placed an asking price of $114,000 on her house, and because of this high price, it didn’t sell. 192 / Katherine Anne Porter remembered Katherine Anne returned toWashington from her second european trip [1962– 63] and settled down at the Hotel Jefferson in a tiny apartment. she came to dinner with catherine and me and told us that she was going to buy a house in new Jersey near Glenway Wescott. We told her that we thought it was a fine idea. However, a few days later she said that she had given up the idea because “too many people had gotten into the act.” i had thought for some time that the curtiss house would be perfect for KAP. she had been buying crystal chandeliers and large pieces of elaborate furniture that would require large, ornate rooms. this house had these rooms, a delightful private garden, and a fine pink bedroom with a small kitchen unit outside. (Katherine Anne had fallen twice down the steps of her house on Q street when she got up in the night to go down and get something to eat. i thought having a kitchen outside her bedroom would stop this. Also, there was room for an elevator to be installed when she could no longer make the stairs.) i discussed this with catherine. i didn’t really want to get into any business arrangement with her, and we didn’t know if we really wanted her across the street. We had been called many times when she was sick on Q street. i had done most of her banking for her, and we used to take her food and cook for her when she wasn’t well. i knew that there would be many such occasions again, but i felt that she needed to get into a house of her own, with her own things around her, if she was ever going to write again. catherine and i agreed that i should show her the house—only if she asked me to find her a house. in december she did ask me. she wanted me to look into a house she had passed in Georgetown for rent.the rental was $650 a month. i told her i thought that such a...