Education
Theodor, (Ted), went to Springfield Public Schools. His English teacher at Central High School, Red Smith, was the one who helped him turn his ideas into stories, poems, jokes and news articles. His writing kept getting better and better. Soon, he was editing Central High’s newspaper, the Central Recorder. Right after high school graduation, he went to Dartmouth College. His fraternity brothers at Dartmouth called him the one “less likely to succeed” because he liked to socialize more than study. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1925 with a Liberal Arts Degree. Starting in the fall of 1925, Theodor went to Oxford University for English literature. He went there until 1927. That’s when he decided to drop out.
Marriage
His first wife was Helen Marion Palmer. She was a petite, dark-haired American. The two met at Oxford University. He would try to take notes and stay focused in class, but get bored and start doodling in the margins of his paper. One day, his doodling caught her eye and she suggested he try drawing rather than study literature. He liked both her idea, and Helen herself. The proposal was different than most you see today. She was asked to marry him while riding on the back of his motorcycle one day. When she said yes, Ted got so excited that he drove off the road and into a ditch. Luckily, neither of them was injured. Helen died October 23, 1967 of Hodgkin’s disease at home. When she died, Theodor shared his feelings of sadness with a good friend, Audrey Stone Diamond, who soon became his second wife. They got married on June 21, 1968. The marriage lasted until Theodors death.
Children
Ted had no children of his own, but when he married Audrey, he had two-step daughters. Their names were Leagrey and Lark. Both of the girls attended Boarding School.