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	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u4/Steene-Biloxi trawler-OOMA-2013.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 197px;" /></p>
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	<strong><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">Biloxi Trawler</span></strong></p>
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	<span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">[Possession of OOMA in Biloxi, Mississippi]</span></p>
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	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u4/Steene%2C William.jpg" style="width: 162px; height: 250px;" /></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong>WILLIAM R. STEENE</strong></span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">William Robert Steene (1887-1965) was born at Syracuse, New York on August 18, 1887.&nbsp; He was a nationally known portrait painter and muralist. Steene studied under Colarossi and Julian in Paris, after his initial art education at the Art Students&rsquo; League and National Academy of Design in New York City. Among his portraitures possibly familiar to local residents are: President Franklin D. Roosevelt; Senator Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi; Governor Henry Whitfield of Mississippi; Dr. Karl Meyer, head of Cook County Hospital at Chicago; E.V Richards, president of the Navy League of America and Paramount Richards Theatres; and golfing legend, Robert Trent &ldquo;Bobby&rdquo; Jones.(Who&rsquo;s Who in America, Vol. 31, 1960-1961 and Bradford-O&rsquo;Keefe Burial Book 48, p. 245)</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">Probably William R. Steene&#39;s first visit to the Mississippi Gulf Coast was in April 1931, when he was a guest of the Buena Vista Hotel at Biloxi. He had painted in Mississippi earlier in his distinguished art career. &nbsp;Steene had come to Biloxi after completing two portraits. &nbsp;They were of Frank G. Logan (1851-1937), philanthropist and honorary president of the Chicago Art Institute, and Dr. Harry Woodburn Chase (1883-1955), president of the University of Illinois. &nbsp;Mr. Logan&#39;s portrait was hung in the Grand Central art gallery at NYC.(The Daily Herald, April 18, 1931, p 2)</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">In 1956, from his Gulf Hills studio, W.R. Steene completed a large mural depicting the 1953 Louisiana Sesquicentennial Celebration, a remembrance of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, at New Orleans.&nbsp; President Eisenhower is at the center of this 50-foot long, ten-foot tall, triptych mural, which took a year to complete.&nbsp; The painting hangs in the Presbytery of the Louisiana State Museum at New Orleans.(<em>The Daily Herald, &ldquo;Know Your Coast&rdquo;, November 15, 1957)</em></span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><strong><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">Blossman Collection</span></strong></span></p>
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	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u4/Steene%2C William-Landing of Iberville.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 171px;" /><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u4/Steene-Blossman_0.jpg" style="width: 211px; height: 250px;" /></p>
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	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u4/Steene-Blossman-2_0.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 242px;" /></p>
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	<span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong>Landing of Iberville-1699</strong></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">Locally, Blossman Gas on Washington Avenue has a fine collection of Mr. Steene&rsquo;s paintings.&nbsp; E.W. &ldquo;Woody&ldquo; Blossman (1913-1990) commissioned &quot;Landing of Iberville&quot; from Steene to hang in his refurbished Gottsche Building, which was acquired in 1962.&nbsp; The architectural firm of Slaughter &amp; Smith of Pascagoula directed the buildings restoration and W.R. Steene served as art consultant for the project.(Down South, March 4, 1964)&nbsp;</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">The City of Biloxi has a Steene painting in its City Hall on Lameuse Street appropriately titled, &ldquo;Blessing of the Fleet&rdquo;.(<em>The Ocean Springs News, June 3, 1965, p. 7)</em></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong>Gulf Hills</strong></span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">In November 1950, the William R. Steene home and studio in Gulf Hills was under construction.&nbsp; The Steens were domiciled in the Ed Brou residence on Washington (sic) Avenue.<em>(The Gulf Coast Times, November 3, 1950, p. 8)</em></span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">William Steene and his wife Eula Mae Jackson Steene (1888-1969) resided in Gulf Hills north of Ocean Springs from 1950, until his death at Biloxi on March 24, 1965.&nbsp; They married in 1914, and had two daughters, Betty S. Painter and Marianne S. Ware (1919-2001).&nbsp; Mrs. Steene&rsquo;s sister, Miss O. Jackson, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, was once the manager of the Town And Country Restaurant on Park Avenue in NYC.(<em>The Daily Herald, March 24, 1965, p. 1 and</em> <em>The Gulf Coast Times, January 22, 1953, p. 1)</em></span></span></p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong>Eula Jackson Steene</strong>(1888-1969) expired in July 1969 at Jackson, Mississippi.(SSDI)</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong>Betty Steen Painter</strong>(1915?-1998?) married? Lawrence Painter (1915-1980)</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong>Marianne Steene Ware</strong>(1919-2001) died at Bronxville, New York on March 3, 2001.(SSDI)</span></span></p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong>REFERENCES:</strong></span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong><em>Books</em></strong></span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong>Bradford-O&rsquo;Keefe Burial Book 48</strong>, <strong>&ldquo;William Robert Steene&rdquo;</strong>, (Bradford-O&rsquo;Keefe Funeral Home-Biloxi, Mississippi-1965).</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong>Who&rsquo;s Who in America</strong><strong>, </strong><strong><em>&ldquo;William Steene&rdquo;</em></strong><em>, </em>Vol. 31, 1960-1961.</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong><em>Magazines</em></strong></span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong>Down South, &ldquo;William Steene-Artist Laureate of the Gulf Coast&rdquo;</strong>, Vol. 5, No. 1, January-February 1955, pp. 13-14.</span></span></p>
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	<strong style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Down South, &ldquo;Preserving the Past&rdquo;</strong><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">, Vol. 14, No. 2, March-April 1964.</span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><strong><em>Journals</em></strong></span></span></p>
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	<em style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">The Daily Herald,&nbsp;</em><strong style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">&ldquo;Portrait painter here&quot;</strong><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">, April 18, 1931.</span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Daily Herald, </em><strong>&ldquo;Know Your Coast&rdquo;, </strong><strong><em>&lsquo;Portrait Painter Of Distinguished Americans&rdquo;</em></strong>, 1956.</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Daily Herald, </em><strong>&ldquo;Know Your Coast&rdquo;</strong><em>,</em><strong>&lsquo;Self portrait&rsquo; </strong>(photo), November 15, 1957.</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Daily Herald, </em><strong>&ldquo;Know Your Coast&rdquo;</strong><em>,</em><strong><em>&lsquo;Another Mississippian Adds to the Luster of the Little Church Around the Corner&rsquo;</em></strong><em>, December 8, 1959.</em></span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Daily Herald, </em><strong>&ldquo;Gulf Hills Artist Dies in Hospital&rdquo;</strong>, March 24, 1965, p. 1.</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Gulf Coast Times, </em><strong>&ldquo;Personal Items&rdquo;</strong>, November 3, 1950, p. 8.</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Gulf Coast Times, </em><strong>&ldquo;Miss O. Jackson dies here after long illness&rdquo;, </strong>January 22, 1953, p. 1.</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Ocean Springs News, </em><strong>&ldquo;Steene Exhibit Opens Sunday At Gulf Hills&rdquo;</strong>, March 8, 1962, p. 1.</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Ocean Springs News, </em><strong>&ldquo;Painter of Great, Lives Quietly at Gulf Hills&rdquo;</strong>, September 27, 1962, p. 2.</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Ocean Springs News, </em><strong>&ldquo;Steen (sic) to Judge&rdquo;</strong>, February 11, 1965, p. 6.</span></span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Ocean Springs News, </em><strong>&ldquo;Gulf Hills Artist Dies&rdquo;</strong>, March 25, 1965, p. 1.</span></span></p>
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	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Ocean Springs News, </em><strong>&ldquo;Plan Award in Name of Coast Artist&rdquo;</strong>, April 22, 1965, p. 1.</span></span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;"><em>The Ocean Springs News, </em><strong>&ldquo;Blessing of the Fleet&rdquo;</strong>(photo), June 3, 1967, p. 7.</span></span></p>
