By some wonderful good fortune, Vanya's 1st cousin, once removed,
gave me permission to post her photographs here. They are taken from
the brilliantly organised, beautifully created website:
Palin Family Tribal Pages.

And that reminds me, if any of Vanya's relatives prefer that
I remove any photograph of them or one of their photographs,
please don't hesitate to let me know. My email address is
nickyskye [at] gmail [dot] com

My intention is to commemorate the life of a treasured friend,
not to bother anyone.

Looking at these great photographs, so many thoughts come up. I wish Vanya had shown them to me years ago. I would have so enjoyed hearing her anecdotes, although I heard about her mother, father, brother and niece on many occasions. I knew Vanya very well and a lot about her life. But seeing these images I realize how much I did not know and wish I had.

The photograph of her in her ballet outfit is breathtaking. A Sugar Plum Fairy! There was that side of her character. She had a darker side too but I never experienced ill will in her, which is pretty extraordinary when you think about it. She could make terrible misjudgements of character but based on misperception, thinking a person was better, in my opinion, than they were.

I met Vanya when I was 33 years old and she was 59, the age I almost am now. My God, when I think of Vanya when I first met her she was so vibrant, so alive, so fit, so full of energy, laughter, dreams.

Vanya was a dedicated activist in the Hell's Kitchen community from the time she arrived here in 1972. She had a rent controlled apartment, which was in 2008 only about $150 a month rent. She was a regular community activist at a marvelous local organisation in Hell's Kitchen, which helps all the tenants here for free, Housing Conservation Coordinators, HCC. The angel there, who did the greatest service to the Hell's Kitchen Community was and is, Bob Kalin, who knew Vanya well for many years.

HCC tenant organizer Bob Kalin and his client Anthony.

All rights reserved by West Side Neighborhood Alliance

That's Bob on the left, the Hell's Kitchen tenants' rights angel, loved by thousands
for his decades of dedicated and selfless service to others

Vanya was not sentimental about many things but she was about her neighbors, especially those who other people thought were difficult, like Tayeb, her neighbor across the hallway, an irascible curmudgeon from Morocco, who frequently had rage attacks with one and all, but not with Vanya. Or she loved the elderly Mr. Tapia, completely deaf, and his wife, who dressed in the old fashioned peasant dress of the Mexican village from which they came. Neither of the Tapias spoke a word of English but somehow Vanya and the Tapias communicated well over many years.

Vanya helped put a criminal slumlord Michael S. in prison for 6 years. This was an extremely dangerous, ruthless sociopath. She stood up to this monster and helped to make Hell's Kitchen a safer place to live. She also taught me how to be a tenants' right activist too, for which I'm deeply grateful and indebted to Vanya. Though she could look like a sugar plum fairy she had a spine of steel and was ferociously against abuses of authority.

She was a very young spirit and young in her physical health too. In her 60's and 70's, even at 80 she looked many years younger than anybody I know has ever looked at that age. I always thought she was beautiful, lithe, graceful in all her movements and gestures, a mellifluous voice, which all went with her deep thinking and deep feeling personality. She spoke beautifully too and on many occasions that I experienced had deep insights about the human psyche.

When I went into menopause, shortly into my 40's, she told me she'd had an hysterectomy at 28, that it didn't bother her at all, the transition into menopause at such a young age. It gave me comfort. She said she had her nose "fixed' early on in her acting career and I'd always wondered how she looked naturally. It's wonderful to see her now, as she was.

Palin, Cecil Gordon

b. 26 Dec 1884
- Gloucester, England
d. May 1951
- Littleham, Exmouth
m. Kerle, Beatrice

Kerle, Beatrice

b. 1883
d. 05 Nov 1951
- Littleham. Exmouth
m. Palin, Cecil

More Photos

Palin, Rosemary

b. 19 Aug 1928
- Quebec, Canada
d. 28 Apr 2012
- New York
m. Jarrott, Charles
- 05 May 1949
- Windsor
- div. 07 May 1957

Rosemary became an actress and changed her name to Vanya Frank.

Died April 28, 2012; born Montreal 1928. Actor, writer, director, teacher, designer, counsellor. Performed at the Crest Theatre and at Stratford in the 1960s.
Broadway credits include Alfie, Conduct Unbecoming: other notable theatre roles Alma Summer and Smoke, Masha The Seagull, Margaret A Man for All Seasons: movies in ...more

About Palin, Rosemary
Rosemary became an actress and changed her name to Vanya Frank.
Died April 28, 2012; born Montreal 1928. Actor, writer, director, teacher, designer, counsellor.
Performed at the Crest Theatre and at Stratford in the 1960s.
Broadway credits include Alfie, Conduct Unbecoming: other notable theatre roles Alma Summer
and Smoke, Masha The Seagull, Margaret A Man for All Seasons: movies include The Other Side
of Midnight, Consensus. She was a member of Jean Erdman’s Open Eye Theatre Company and
Artist in Residence at Brandeis University for 3 years. She wrote a play, Spectrum of One, and
an epic poem To Kill a Tiger (2011 Pathways Publishing).

Formerly married to Charles Jarrott, she was predeceased by her brother Kerle Palin: survived
by her sister Esther; nieces Elaine, Vivian, Jennifer; nephews Ted, Wood; special friends Dora,
Dan, Savannah, John, Yusef and Elizabeth Shepherd.
Her credo: "Creating beauty is never a waste of time"

Birth Citation

Family Member
Text: Vivian Palin

Vanya's husband, Charles Jarrott

Vanya 1943

Also in picture are her mother Kerle, Beatrice, her father Palin, Cecil G., her sister Palin, Esther Beatrice and her brother Palin, Gordon K.

Also in picture are her mother Kerle, Beatrice

, her father Palin, Cecil G.

, her sister Palin, Esther Beatrice

and her brother Palin, Gordon K.

Rosemary is 1 years old in this picture. Also in picture are her sister Palin, Esther Beatrice

(6 yrs) and her brother Palin, Gordon K.

(9 yrs)

Rosemary is 1 years old in this picture. Also in picture are her mother Kerle, Beatrice

(46 yrs), her sister Palin, Esther Beatrice

(6 yrs) and her brother Palin, Gordon K.

(9 yrs)

Rosemary is 6 years old in this picture. Also in picture are her cousinPalin, Barbara H.S.

, her sister Palin, Esther Beatrice

(11 yrs), her cousinPalin, George S.

(12 yrs), her cousinPalin, Thomas W.S.

(11 yrs)

Picture dated 1934

George, Bill, Esther, Rosemary and Barbara.

Rosemary is 10 years old in this picture. Also in picture are her sister Palin, Esther Beatrice

(15 yrs) and her brotherPalin, Gordon K.

(18 yrs)

Picture dated 1938

Rosemary is 14 years old in this picture.

Picture dated 1942

Rosemary is 17 years old in this picture. Also in picture are her mother Kerle, Beatrice

(62 yrs), her father Palin, Cecil G.

(61 yrs), her sister Palin, Esther Beatrice

(22 yrs) and her brother Palin, Gordon K.

(25 yrs)

Picture dated 1945

Rosemary is 21 years old in this picture.

Picture dated 1949

Rosemary is 21 years old in this picture. Also in picture is Jarrott, Charles

(22 yrs)

Picture dated 1949

Newspaper clipping printed in 'The Montreal Daily Star' on March 3, 1949

Rosemary is 21 years old in this picture. Also in picture is Jarrott, Charles

(22 yrs)

Picture dated 1949

Left to Right Beatrice Kerle Palin, Dora Kate Palin, Ursula J Borlase, Charles, Rosemary, best man: Timothy Agate Salisbury, Edith Leask and her daughter Cynthia, Esther Palin.