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Concept
Irene Craigmile Bolam
Summary
Irene Craigmile Bolam (born Irene Madalaine O'Crowley; October 1, 1904 – July 7, 1982) was an American banker and resident of Monroe Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey. In 1970, a book that was soon widely discredited set forth an allegation that she was Amelia Earhart. Bolam denied the claim and took legal action against the publisher, resulting in the book being withdrawn.
In 1965, Joseph Gervais received an invitation to speak at a retired pilots' gathering, where one of Amelia Earhart's friends, Viola Gentry, introduced him to Mrs. Bolam. Gervais felt he instantly recognized her as an older version of Amelia Earhart and commenced to research her past. Using Gervais' research, author Joe Klaas documented his assertion in his book Amelia Earhart Lives (1970). Bolam denied being Earhart, filed a $1.5. million lawsuit, and submitted a lengthy affidavit refuting the claim. The book's publisher, McGraw-Hill, pulled Klaas' book from the market shortly after it was released, and court records indicate they made an out-of-court settlement with her.
Bolam's personal life history has since been thoroughly documented, eliminating any possibility she was Earhart. The evidence presented in the affidavit included her 1937 private pilot's license and marriage certificate. Her personal life was also a matter of public record.
Born Irene Madalaine O'Crowley, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Joseph O'Crowley, she married Charles Craigmile, and after his death in 1931, she married Alvin Heller in 1933. The two had a son in 1934 named Clarence Alvin Heller, but their marriage was annulled in 1940. She remarried Guy Bolam in 1958. Although Irene Craigmile Bolam was briefly a pilot who claimed to have known Amelia Earhart, her main career from the mid-1940s on revolved around banking and finance in New York. Many mutual friends, such as air racer Elinor Smith, also knew both Earhart and Bolam.
On Bolam's death, Gervais sought permission to photograph and fingerprint the body, but permission was denied.
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