Irene Craigmile Bolam
Bolam c. 1980
Born
Irene Madalaine O'Crowley

October 1, 1904
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedJuly 7, 1982(1982-07-07) (aged 77)
Belford, New Jersey, U.S.
OccupationBanker
Known forAllegedly being Amelia Earhart
Spouses
  • Charles Craigmile
  • Alvin Heller (m. 1933-1940; annulled)
  • Guy Bolam (m. 1958-1970; his death)[1]
Children1

Irene Craigmile Bolam (born Irene Madalaine O'Crowley; October 1, 1904 – July 7, 1982) was an American banker and resident of Monroe Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey.[2][3] In 1970, a book that was soon widely discredited set forth an allegation that she was Amelia Earhart. Bolam denied the claim and took legal action against the publisher, resulting in the book being withdrawn.[4]

Amelia Earhart theory

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In 1965, Joseph Gervais received an invitation to speak at a retired pilots' gathering, where one of Amelia Earhart's friends, Viola Gentry, introduced him to Mrs. Bolam. Gervais felt he instantly recognized her as an older version of Amelia Earhart and commenced to research her past. Using Gervais' research, author Joe Klaas documented his assertion in his book Amelia Earhart Lives (1970). Bolam denied being Earhart, filed a $1.5. million lawsuit, and submitted a lengthy affidavit refuting the claim.[5] The book's publisher, McGraw-Hill, pulled Klaas' book from the market shortly after it was released, and court records indicate they made an out-of-court settlement with her.[6]

Bolam's personal life history has since been thoroughly documented, eliminating any possibility she was Earhart. The evidence presented in the affidavit included her 1937 private pilot's license and marriage certificate. Her personal life was also a matter of public record.

Born Irene Madalaine O'Crowley, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Joseph O'Crowley, she married Charles Craigmile, and after his death in 1931, she married Alvin Heller in 1933. The two had a son in 1934 named Clarence Alvin Heller, but their marriage was annulled in 1940. She remarried Guy Bolam in 1958. Although Irene Craigmile Bolam was briefly a pilot who claimed to have known Amelia Earhart, her main career from the mid-1940s on revolved around banking and finance in New York. Many mutual friends, such as air racer Elinor Smith, also knew both Earhart and Bolam.

On Bolam's death, Gervais sought permission to photograph and fingerprint the body, but permission was denied.[7] In 2006, a criminal forensic expert was hired by National Geographic to study photographs of Earhart and Bolam and cited many measurable facial differences between them, concluding that the two people were not the same.[citation needed]

After Amelia Earhart Lives was published in 1970, three additional books were subsequently published that continued to proclaim that Mrs. Bolam and Amelia Earhart had physically been one and the same human being. The books were titled Stand By To Die by Robert Myers and Barbara Wiley (1985), Amelia Earhart Survived by Colonel Rollin C. Reineck (2003), and in January 2016, Amelia Earhart: Beyond the Grave by W. C. Jameson was published. The authors of these books continued to promote the theory that Bolam and Earhart were one and the same, despite the aforementioned facts and circumstances.[8]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Reference to year of death of Guy Bolam, dannychesnut.com. Accessed July 6, 2023.
  2. ^ "Will the real Amelia...", Time (magazine), November 23, 1970. Retrieved: November 27, 2007. "The woman they name as Amelia is Mrs. Guy Bolam, widow of a businessman and now living in Monroe Township, N.J."
  3. ^ "New Earhart Book Called 'Nonsense'", The New York Times, November 11, 1970. Quote: "Mrs. Bolam, who lives in the Leisure World retirement community in Monroe Township, N. J., said she had met Mr. Gervais, a retired Army major, at a meeting of plane enthusiasts..."
  4. ^ Strippel 1995, p. 52.
  5. ^ Strippel 1995, p. 52.
  6. ^ Gillespie, Ric. "Is This Amelia Earhart?" The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, 2009. Retrieved: January 5, 2016.
  7. ^ Strippel 1995, p. 53.
  8. ^ "New book claims Amelia Earhart was taken prisoner by Japanese during WWII." Fox News, December 30, 2015. Retrieved: January 5, 2016.

Bibliography

  • Glines, C.V. "'Lady Lindy': The Remarkable Life of Amelia Earhart." Aviation History, July 1997.
  • Goldstein, Donald M. and Katherine V. Dillon. Amelia: The Centennial Biography of an Aviation Pioneer. Washington, DC: Brassey's, 1997. ISBN 1-57488-134-5.
  • Hoverstein, Paul. "An American Obsession". Air & Space Smithsonian, Vol. 22, No. 2, June/July 2007.
  • Klaas, Joe. Amelia Earhart Lives. New York: McGraw–Hill Book Co., 1970. ISBN 0-07-035010-8.
  • Strippel, Richard G. Amelia Earhart: The Myth and the Reality. New York: Exposition Press, 1972. ISBN 0-682-47447-9.
  • Strippel, Richard G. "Researching Amelia: A Detailed Summary for the Serious Researcher into the Disappearance of Amelia Earhart." Air Classics, Vol. 31, No. 11, November 1995.

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