Sarah Trevor Teasdale was born in St. Louis on August 8, 1884, to J.W. Teasdale and Mary Elizabeth Willard. Her father owned a wholesale dry-goods firm, which imported dried fruits and nuts. Sarah was the youngest of three siblings: George, Mary (Mamie), and John Jr. Known as “Sadie” by her family, Sarah was delicate in health and was educated at home until she was nine years old. She had a private nurse and suffered from pneumonia and coughing. Later in life, she described herself as a child by saying, “I was the flower amid a toiling world.” Sarah was first sent to Mrs. Ellen Dean Lockwood's school for boys and girls. When she was fifteen years old, she started at the Mary Institute and eventually graduated from Hosmer Hall. In 1904, local teacher Lillie R. Ernst inspired Sarah and a group of other young female aspiring artists and writers to form a group called the Potters. They produced a hand-illustrated and handwritten monthly magazine called The Potter's Wheel from 1904-1907 showcasing their work, which included poems by Sarah. Other members of the group included sisters Williamina and Grace Parrish, Vine Colby, Celia Harris, Petronelle Sombart, Edna Wahlert, and sculptor Caroline Risque. The young women contributed their poetry, photography, plays, short stories, essays, illustrations, and more in the issues of The Potter’s Wheel. Fellow Potter member Will Parrish suggested Sarah stop going by Sadie and drop the “h” from her name to become Sara because she thought “Sara” sounded more like a great poet. As a young woman, Sara was courted by Springfield, Ill., poet Vachel Lindsey. They corresponded with each other and became lifelong friends. Sara inspired the “Chinese Nightingale” figure in his poetry. After a courtship in Charlevoix, Mich., Sara married St. Louis businessman Ernst B. Filsinger on December 19, 1914. Ernst was an admirer and an enthusiastic supporter of Sara’s poetry. Sara Teasdale gained prominence as a writer with the assistance of St. Louis publisher William Marion Reedy, who printed some of her early works in Reedy's Mirror. As a lyric poet, Sara was inspired by love and romance and influenced by Greek and Roman classics (particularly Sappho), Arthurian legends, and popular figures of her day like actress Eleonora Duse and poet Christina Rossetti. Her published books of poetry included Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems (1907), Helen of Troy (1911), Rivers to the Sea (1915), Love Songs (1917), Flame and Shadow (1920), and Stars Tonight (1930). Love Songs won Sara Teasdale what would become the first Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1918. Because of her husband’s frequent business travel and her declining health, Sara’s marriage became strained. By 1929, she decided to pursue a divorce. She established residence in Reno, Nevada, and filed divorce papers on September 5, 1929. Sara Teasdale was plagued by ill health her entire life, which worsened after her divorce. In 1932, illness caused her to return home early from Europe, where she had been researching a book on Christina Rossetti. On January 29, 1933, Sara was found dead in a bathtub in her apartment in New York. The death was ruled accidental, but in fact Sara had committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. Strange Victory, a final collection of Sara Teasdale’s poems, was published posthumously that year due to the efforts of her friends, namely John Hall Wheelock and Margaret Conklin. In her will, Sara left part of her income to her ex-husband Ernst Filsinger. She is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. Ernst B. Filsinger was born on June 10, 1880, in St. Louis. He was the eldest son of Henry J. and Kate Ernst Filsinger. He had two sisters, Wanda and Irma, and two brothers, Adolph and Harry. Henry J. Filsinger worked as a dealer in marble and granite as president of the Filsinger-Fruth Monument Company, and Kate was an immigrant from Germany. Throughout his career, Ernst B. Filsinger became an expert on international trade, particularly in Latin America. He was an author himself of works such as Exporting to Latin America and The Commercial Travelers’ Guide to Latin America. He worked for Lawrence & Co., a textile firm, as foreign sales manager for most of his career staring in 1916, and he later became the vice president in charge of foreign sales at the Royal Baking Powder Company. He also launched a consulting business. In 1929, Ernst B. Filsinger made a historic flight with British pilot Capt. R.R. Bentley by setting a record for a journey from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Berlin, Germany. By railroad and steamship, the journey would have taken five months, but Filsinger and his pilot accomplished the 8,000-mile journey in five weeks. His actual flying time consisted of 104 hours as he landed twenty-seven times on the way to Berlin to study markets throughout Africa and Europe. Ernst died suddenly in Shanghai, China, on May 24, 1937, at the age of 56. He was cremated, and his ashes were buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis near the Teasdale family plot.