“He was a genius”: Julia Wolfe talks about her son Thomas

You might need headphones to hear this seven-minute audio recording of Julia Wolf speaking in 1945 with radio host Tom Breneman, but it’s worth plugging in to catch her wonderful speaking voice and accent.

Wolfe, the mother of eight children including Thomas, expresses some surprising thoughts, including this one that seems to suggest an early feminist sentiment:

I might have amounted to more than I have. But I’ve always felt, since Thomas came on this earth, that being Tom’s mother helped make up for a great many things that I failed to be and do.

According to the website of N.C. Historic Sites, Thomas Wolfe’s mother was an accomplished businesswoman:

Julia Elizabeth Westall Wolfe (1860-1945), was a third-generation North Carolinian of Scots-Irish-English stock. Surprisingly, Julia Wolfe did not operate the boardinghouse because of financial need. W. O. Wolfe made enough money from the tombstone shop he owned and operated on Asheville’s city square to support the family. But former teacher Julia was obsessed with the real estate market and used profits from the boardinghouse’s operation to buy more property. A shrewd and hard-nosed businesswoman, Julia Wolfe was remembered as a “driver of hard bargains” by family members.

 

SHARE
About Virginia Daffron
Managing editor, lover of mountains, native of WNC. Follow me @virginiadaffron

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

One thought on ““He was a genius”: Julia Wolfe talks about her son Thomas

  1. Carol

    Great article as always, Thomas! Loved the interview with Julia Wolfe. That woman had a wonderful sense of humor!

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.