Born in the relatively small town of Steubenville, Ohio, Carolyn Scott Reybold went from rags to riches-- to homeless.
How does a bridesmaid for Grace Kelly and famous model end up on the streets?
Her daughter explains in the book "The Bridesmaid's Daughter".
And I explain how I "accidentally" started a podcast because of this.
I first heard of Carolyn Reybold when I went to the Dean Martin festival for his 100th birthday celebration.
I decided to stop at the museum to see if there was a display about Martin. Of course, there was but the staff seemed to take a shining to me.
I was about the youngest person there that had visited from out of state and had not been dragged there by parents to see the birthplace of my beloved Dean Martin.
I was given a personal tour, as I politely listened to an older gentleman get excited about certain things he felt he was passing on, which indeed he was, I learned more from that small museum than I have at larger ones.
He stopped at a picture of Carolyn.
He said "do you know who she is?"
I of course, answered in the negative.
He said "she was the best friend of Grace Kelly and ended up homeless".
He said people in town had reached out to try to offer her help, but she had refused.
She had been apparently the "It" girl for awhile, being in countless magazines.
I wondered how her fate ended up that way, and how she spent the remainder of her days, as a homeless person.
I really did not have much time to ponder this, as the men had taken such a shining to me that they wanted to show me the wonders they had in the basement, something few saw apparently.
It was a model train set. It was quite something.
Fast forward a bit, about a year later, I forget Carolyn's name but remember her story. I tried to look up famous people from Ohio.
Nothing rings a bell.
Couple months later, I don't know why, probably telling someone about the Dean Martin experience (because at the job I was at they lightly teased about being too young to like Dean), I looked it up again.
I believe I searched "Ohio model Grace Kelly"
POOF
I found a book had been written about her.....by her daughter. Nyna Giles.
I message her daughter on the author's page, thinking it's managed by someone else.
My literal text was WAY early in the morning saying
Last year I went to the Steubenville museum visiting for The Dean Martin festival when The guide told me about Carolyn. Her name escaped me after I went home but her story did not. It took me awhile to find her, I kept looking through famous Ohioans and Steubenville residents but her name was not there. I plan on putting your book on my must reads. I am 24 and have started to make videos and hope to launch a few podcasts about famous people if the past, right now the audience is small but I would be happy to promote your book. Are there any other resources or websites that you know of that has pertinent information?
I was really only expecting to make a podcast explaining who Carolyn was, I did not expect the author to write back.
She gave me resources then said " I'd be happy to do your podcast anytime"
At this point, I had only done a couple of videos in a series of celebrities. I did not have a podcast yet.
I thought "Oh man, I guess I have a podcast now".
I told my friends and family about this model's story and said I had gotten an interview from the daughter and author of this book.
They were excited for me.
So here it is....
This podcast has been A LOT of work. And I've made literally 50 cents off it. That's it.
BUT I love the content.
To me, sharing stories of people who did amazing work, is worthwhile.
These people are amazing, and a part of our lives.
I don't want their impact, their lives, their works--forgotten.
Or thrown away as just the past by younger generations.
It may be black and white.
But it has value.
Your favorite things and people will slip from people's memories too.
Someday I may be talking about Ariana Grande or Tom Hanks.
YouTube version
Funny photo of pals staging a fight...
This photo is in my room.