W003-5Roberts

Margaret E. Roberts (Mrs. John Munsey Roberts)

This portrait of Margaret Roberts at age 25 was made around 1901. From 1912 to 1916 Mrs. Roberts was the beloved teacher of Thomas Wolfe at the North State Fitting School. She encouraged him to follow his dream of becoming a writer. When his first book, Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life, was published in 1929, Wolfe sent his former teacher a copy, signed, "To Margaret Roberts, who was the mother of my spirit, I present this copy of my first book, with hope and with devotion. Thomas Wolfe Oct 15, 1929." Unfortunately, it was many years before Mrs. Roberts could forgive the book’s unflattering portrayal of her husband John Munsey Roberts.