Armine von Tempski (born Ethel Armine von Tempsky) (April 1, 1892 – December 2, 1943) was an American writer and one of Hawaii's best known authors.
Biography
Early life and family Ethel Armine von Tempsky was born April 1, 1892, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Louis Ludwig von Tempsky and Amy Dulcibella Wodehouse Von Tempsky. Her father was the son of the Poland-born 19th-century adventurer and newspaper correspondent Gustavus von Tempsky.
In later years, Armine began listing her birth year as 1899, such as on her 1932 marriage record, and the date was subsequently used in many of her obituaries. However, her birth certificate and 1920 passport application suggest a correct birth date of 1892.
Writing career Armine Von Tempski's autobiographies and novels were based on her early life among the paniolos (cowboys) on the Haleakala cattle ranch atop the Haleakalā shield volcano. The Haleakala Ranch, which Jack London first visited in 1907, was his favourite of the Hawaiian ranches he enjoyed on several extended visits with his wife Charmian. The young Armine, then sixteen years old, asked London to read some of her stories and give his opinion. He said that they were "clumsy, incoherent tripe" but added that "every so often there's a streak of fire on your pages," which encouraged her.
Her first published writing, in the early 1920s, was about efforts to restore the island of Kahoolawe after years of drought and overgrazing.
Personal life She married California real estate agent Alfred Lathrop Ball on December 25, 1932, in Ventura County, California. They were friends of poet Don Blanding, who illustrated von Tempski's book, Ripe Breadfruit (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1935).
Death Von Tempski died in Fresno, California on December 2, 1943 at age 51. On November 28, she traveled by train from Manhattan Beach to Fresno for a speaking engagement that evening at the First Congregational Church regarding her recent book Thunder in Heaven. Von Tempski reported that she came down with "a feverish cold" during the "last leg" of the approximately 200-mile train trip. She eventually canceled the appearance due to sickness, with a Fresno-area physician diagnosing her illness as influenza.
Von Tempski apparently felt too sick to travel home from Fresno, and was last seen alive on the afternoon of December 2. She was found dead in her room by staff at The Californian Hotel on the morning of December 3, with the coroner listing her cause of death as heart attack. She was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California on December 4, 1943.
Bibliography The Ox Bow Press in Woodbridge, Connecticut, publishes reprint editions of von Tempski's books.
Autobiographies
1940. Born in Paradise. (Bestseller.) Paperback: . 1946. Aloha. (Sequel) Paperback: . Hardcover: .
Fiction
1927. Hula. Hardcover: (the 1927 silent film Hula was based on it) 1928. Hardcover: . 1929. 1933. (Fictional account of the pineapple industry's beginnings on Maui) Hardcover: . 1935. 1940. (For younger readers.) 1941. 1942. Hardcover: . 1946.
References Clarice Stasz. Jack London's Women. University of Massachusetts Amherst Press, 2001. . "They [Jack London and his wife] most preferred visits to ranches, where they could enjoy the isolation and hospitality of a family, as well as daily horseback riding. Their favorite was Haleakala Ranch, managed by Louis von Tempsky. His teenage daughter Armine, a budding writer, was surprised to find Jack a "breezy, boyish-looking man with ... a mop of rather untidy hair. Intelligence, vigor, and a gusto for life emanated from him." For ten days she joined the couple on horseback. Jack rode "like a sailor," while Charmian was "such a finished performer that I lent her Bedouin, who had never carried another woman on his back." Jack read one of Armine's manuscripts and dubbed it "tripe," but added that she had "a streak of fire" that promised success once she understood that writing was the hardest work in the world." (Chapter 7, p. 123.)
Ventura County Genealogical Society: Brides, 1929-1940 - TUV Grooms, 1929-1940 - B
Don Blanding website:
External links