Life Story: Irene 'Amy' Borden
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The death of a loved one often leads family members to share stories and think about what they will miss the most.
Irene Borden was known as "Amy" to many of her friends and family members who say anybody who met her instantly liked her. And in the advertising industry, she was known as a trailblazer in the 1950s.
In this week's Life Story, Angela Davis shows us how Borden was one of the first women to find success in a field dominated by men.
Television commercials in the 1950s were quite distinct. In downtown Minneapolis, Dayton's department store had a team of copy writers and artists who came up with ideas for ads.
And a young woman named Irene Casber had a place at the table. She told her kids she wrote this line: "Use White Rain shampoo tonight and tomorrow your hair will be sunshine bright!"
"I just recall her talking about working at Dayton's, going down and taking the car, working downtown," Lynn Borden, her step-daughter, said. "She was very creative. She was always coming up with ideas for different things. She kept files and files of different ideas."
Another achievement she was proud of: helping Raid promote the power of its bug spray.
"She would tell me one of my claims to fame is (she) came up with 'Raid Kills Bugs Dead' and I'm like 'Well, I've heard of that!' Who hasn't? We've all heard of that," Lynn Borden said.
Lynn Borden's father, James Borden, married Irene when they each were close to retirement in the 1980s. She says her dad started calling Irene "Amy" because it was a name from his favorite love song.
James Borden was a trailblazer himself. He became a commercial airline pilot for Northwest when air travel was just taking off.
"I remember him when he came home and had his promotion to the 747. How he was gonna be moving from a DC-10 to a 747," Lynn Borden said.
As a retired couple, the two lived in Park Rapids. On June 30, James died. On July 18, Irene followed him.
On what to make of them passing so close to each other, Lynn Borden said, "I'm sure they just couldn't live without each other. When she was in the nursing home, he'd go and visit every day. That loss of companionship... give up the will to live, that would be my guess."
Irene Borden was 91 years old when she died last week.
We would love to share your loved one's "Life Story." if you've recently lost someone and would like to share their story with us, click here.
