Hertha Emma Flack (née Eisenmenger; October 10, 1916 – March 23, 2019) was an American philanthropist, painter, and promoter of

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

Early life

Hertha Emma Eisenmenger was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, the daughter of Hugo Emil Eisenmenger and Charlotte Sonya Escherich. Her parents were born in Austria and married there before they moved to the United States. Her father was an electrical engineer and brother of physician

Victor Eisenmenger Victor Eisenmenger (29 January 1864 – 11 December 1932) was an Austrian medical doctor. The son of portrait painter and professor August Eisenmenger, he attended the University of Vienna and became the personal physician of Archduke Franz Ferdina ...

; her grandfather was Austrian painter

August Eisenmenger August Eisenmenger (11 February 1830 – 7 December 1907) was an Austrian painter of portraits and historical subjects. Life He was born in Vienna. At the age of fifteen, Eisenmenger was already a student at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and ...

. Her parents divorced in 1936, and both remarried, her mother to prominent engineer Ernst Weber. Hertha Eisenmenger graduated from A. B. Davis High School in

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of t ...

. She completed undergraduate studies in

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

in 1938, and, in 1941, earned a master's degree in nursing from Yale School of Nursing. She also studied painting at the

Bronx Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

and with Zoltán Szabó in Vermont.

Career

In 1981, the Flacks co-authored a book, ''Ambling and Scrambling on the Appalachian Trail,'' about their eight-year project of hiking the Appalachian Trail as retirees. The book's cover photo shows the older couple, embracing and smiling while holding hiking sticks. They also toured giving lectures and slideshows about their hiking hobby, and radio interviews promoting the book. In 1985, they established the Flack Achievement Award and the Flack Faculty Award for Teaching at Swarthmore College. They also created the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE) and the Polk County Community Foundation, in North Carolina. Flack also painted landscapes and botanical watercolors, and exhibited her works mainly in North Carolina, as a member of Tryon Painters and Sculptors. She was still participating in local art shows in her nineties.

Personal life

Hertha Eisenmenger married naval officer James Monroe Flack in 1941; the best man at their wedding was

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

pitcher Dave Ferriss. After World War II, they lived in Massachusetts and North Carolina. They had two sons and two daughters. She was widowed when James M. Flack died in 1989, while the couple were traveling in the Soviet Union. She remarried in 1993, to retired dentist Wray Stockton Monroe, and was widowed again when Monroe died in 2001. She died in 2019, aged 102 years, in

Tryon, North Carolina Tryon is a town in Polk County, on the southwestern border of North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,646. Located in the escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains, today the area is affluent and a center f ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flack, Hertha E. 1916 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American philanthropists 21st-century American philanthropists 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists American women centenarians American nurses American people of Austrian descent American women philanthropists Artists from Cleveland People from Tryon, North Carolina Philanthropists from Ohio Hikers Swarthmore College alumni Yale School of Nursing alumni 20th-century women philanthropists 21st-century women philanthropists