Dorothy Ulrich Troubetzkoy was an award-winning poet and journalist. She attended Vassar College before transferring to the University of Chicago to study with noted playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder.
New York Times
Dorothy’s writing career began while she was attending graduate school at Columbia during the late 1930s. She wrote book reviews for the New York Times and her poems began to appear in the Times as well.
On Christmas Day 1941, Dorothy married Prince Serge Troubetzkoy. He was born in Kiev, Russia to a noble family and was carried out as a baby during the Russian Revolution. He grew up in France and later moved to the United States after his parents divorced and his mother married an American diplomat.
After her marriage, Dorothy wrote under the name Dorothy Ulrich Troubetzkoy. When The New York Times changed to a format with narrower columns, she shortened her name to Ulrich Troubetzkoy so it could fit in a single line of type.
Following World War II, the family settled in West Hartford. Dorothy wrote for the Hartford Courant.
Virginia
In 1950, they relocated to Richmond, VA. Dorothy wrote articles about Richmond’s history for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and she originated art columns for both the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Richmond News Leader. She was hired as an assistant to the City Manager for the City of Richmond and became the highest-ranking woman in city government at that time.
Her later accomplishments include serving as editor of the Virginia Cavalcade, the state’s historical magazine, and serving as editor of Virginia Wildlife magazine. She was the first woman in Virginia to establish her own weekly newspaper, The Independent Virginian, and she managed it until her death.
She published several volumes of poetry and won national poetry awards. In addition to the New York Times and Hartford Courant, her poetry appeared in the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, New York Herald Tribune, the New Haven Register, The Ladies Home Journal, and many other publications.
In 1979 she was named a Cultural Laureate of Virginia; she was inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame in 2001 and she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Virginia Writers Club in 2003.
Location:
Section 12, Lot 21
References:
Hartford Courant. “Dorothy Ulrich Troubetzkoy (Obituary).” December 12, 2003.
Hartford Courant. “Serge Troubetzkoy (Obituary).” January 6, 2001.
Photo Credit:
Dorothy Ulrich Troubetzkoy, Public Domain