Anne Morrow Lindbergh Dies

M O N T P E L I E R, Vt., Feb. 7, 2001 -- — Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the wife of

aviator Charles A. Lindbergh, who became his copilot and wrote

extensively about their pioneering adventures in flight, died at

her rural Vermont home today. She was 94.

Lindbergh died in her home in Passumpsic about 30 milesnortheast of the state capital, according to her son-in-lawNathaniel Tripp.

Lindbergh, who published 13 books of memoirs, fiction, poems andessays, also lived in a secluded home in Darien, Conn.

A painfully shy woman, she was thrown into the spotlight of herfamous husband immediately after they met in 1927, shortly after hemade his famous solo flight across the Atlantic.

"Mother died quietly in her second home in Vermont with herfamily around here," said Reeve Lindbergh, the youngest of theLindbergh children, in a statement issued by the family foundation.

She soon became her husband's co-pilot, co-navigator and radiooperator. The couple's flights across oceans and around the worldfascinated the American public. Didn't Enjoy the Public Eye

In 1932, the already-famous Lindberghs drew worldwide attentionwhen their first child, 20-month-old Charles Jr., was kidnapped andmurdered.

In an introduction to her journals, she affectionately recalledher famous fiancée as "a knight in shining armor, with myself ashis devoted page."

Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow were married on May 27, 1929,in a private ceremony at the Morrow residence in Englewood, N.J.The couple had six children together. Charles Lindbergh died in1974.

From 1929 to 1935, the Lindberghs flew across the United Stateson tours promoting air travel as a safe and convenient method oftransportation.

In 1930, she became the first American woman to get a gliderpilot's license.Important Flight Companion for Husband

On their flights, while her husband sat in the front seat,Lindbergh was in the rear seat, operating the radio and gatheringweather conditions and landing information.

On April 20, 1930, the Lindberghs set a transcontinental speedrecord, flying from Los Angeles to New York in 14 hours and 45minutes. Anne Lindbergh was seven months pregnant at the time.

In 1934, Lindbergh was the first woman to win the NationalGeographic Society's Hubbard Gold Medal for distinction inexploration, research and discovery.An Established Writer, With 13 Books

Lindbergh published 13 books, many of them autobiographical,including five volumes of diaries and letters that gave detailedaccounts of the Lindberghs' lives from the 1920s through the 1940s.

In an introduction to Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead, the volumecovering the years 1929-32, she wrote of the joy flying gave her:"Flying was a very tangible freedom. In those days, it was beauty,adventure, discovery — the epitome of breaking into new worlds."

In the same book, she wrote of the pain she and her husband feltafter the body of their son was discovered in May 1932, 10 weeksafter the sleeping baby was kidnapped from the Lindberghs' newlybuilt house near Princeton, N.J.

"We sleep badly and wake up and talk. I dreamed right along asI was thinking — all of one piece, no relief. I was walking down asuburban street seeing other people's children and I stopped to seeone in a carriage and I thought it was a sweet child, but I waslooking for my child in his face. And I realized, in the dream,that I would do that forever. And I went on walking heavy and sadand woke heavy and sad."

Among her other books were Gift from the Sea, a 1955best-selling collection of essays; The War Within and Without,memoirs covering the years 1939-1944, when Charles Lindbergh wascriticized as being pro-Nazi; and Listen! the Wind, chroniclingthe Lindberghs' 1933 trip to Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia,Russia, Europe, Africa and South America.

Lindbergh, who struggled throughout her life to maintain herfamily's privacy, wrote of her disdain for the media spotlight: "Iwas quite unprepared for this cops-and-robbers pursuit, an aspectof publicity that has become a common practice with public figures.I felt like an escaped convict. This was not freedom."

She wrote in her diary that when her husband landed in Paris, hewas "completely unaware of the world interest — the wild crowdsbelow. The rush of the crowds to the plane is symbolic of liferushing at him — a new life — new responsibilities — he wascompletely unaware of and unprepared for."

She broke with her tradition of privacy when she opened her latehusband's and even her own papers to biographer A. Scott Berg,whose book Lindbergh came out in 1998, writing to him that"you can't write about Charles without writing about me."

In 1999, another book came out, focusing this time on Lindbergh:Susan Hertog's Anne Morrow Lindbergh: A Life.

Lindbergh was born Anne Spencer Morrow, June 22, 1906, inEnglewood, N.J., the second of four children. She was the daughterof Dwight Whitney Morrow, a banker who later became U.S. ambassadorto Mexico and a U.S. senator, and Elizabeth Cutter Morrow, a writerand teacher.Went Flying on Her First Date With Aviator

After attending private schools, Anne Morrow entered SmithCollege in the fall of 1924, following in the footsteps of hermother and her older sister. Her academic record was fairlyundistinguished until she began to flourish in her writing classesat Smith, where she won the Elizabeth Montagu Prize and the MaryAugusta Jordan Prize for her literary work.

In December 1927, she met Charles Lindbergh. She was a shy andstudious senior at Smith College. He was already an American hero,having recently become the first person to fly solo across theAtlantic Ocean.

He took her flying on their first date; they were engaged withina year.

They had six children — Charles A., III, Jon, Land, Anne, Scottand Reeve.