Telling Frances Glessner Lee's Story by Susan Marks
Telling Frances Glessner Lee's story is complicated and beautiful. She
is every bit the archetypal superhero. You could set her story in any era
and the same themes resonate - the pursuit of justice in the face of
great adversity. And like any superhero - she had her demons and flaws.
Still, Frances is more human than your average superhero. In fact, her
superpowers were superior intelligence, hyper focus, advanced fine motor
skills and the fact that she acted like a man in a man's world.
Frances also knew true monsters, she knew how it felt to be trapped, she
knew injustices, she knew how it felt to be ignored, not taken
seriously and dismissed. She didn't fit in. She tried it, played the
role well but her true nature kept surfacing.
At one point she wrote, "I've lived a rather lonely and terrifying
life." And understandable so. Life really began for her when she was in
her 50s in the 1930s. That's when she devoted her life to "legal
medicine" - creating a miniature world of macabre death scenes to help
level the playing field. But that didn't mean her life got easier for
her. In many ways, she became more and more isolated.
Her story hasn't been well preserved; files are missing, letters
destroyed and journals may have been hidden away. Some members of her
family are very secretive about Frances. (Others are very forthcoming
and are in genuine awe of Frances). One family member told me that
Frances was a very private person and wouldn't want anyone writing or
making films about her. Another family member told me that information
is wrong and that Frances wanted to be known for her work in forensics.
My guess is that they are both a bit right, Frances wanted her story
told but she also wanted to control it. Unfortunately, in her lifetime,
much of her story was left untold.
