Mianne Palfrey

Mianne Palfrey

Full name	Mary Ann "Mianne" Palfrey Dexter
Country (sports)	United States
Born	(1911-03-06)March 6, 1911 Boston, Massachusetts, US
Died	November 2, 1993(1993-11-02) (aged 82)[1][2]
Plays	Right-handed
Singles
Grand Slam singles results
Wimbledon	2R (1930)
US Open	2R (1930, 1931, 1932)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Wimbledon	1R (1930)
US Open	QF (1930, 1931)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon	2R (1930)
US Open	2R (1931)

Mary Ann "Mianne" Palfrey (March 6, 1911 – November 2, 1993) was an American tennis player who was active in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Mianne was the daughter of John Palfrey, a lawyer, and Methyl Oakes. She was part of a quintet of tennis playing sisters, together with Sarah, Lee, Polly and Joanne.^[3]

Palfrey won the girls' national indoor singles title in 1929, defeating her sister Sarah in the final. In addition she won the girls' indoor doubles titles, partnering Sarah, in 1927, 1928 and 1929.^[4][5]

In February 1930, she won the singles title at the U.S. Indoor Championships, held at the Longwood Covered Courts in Chestnut Hill, defeating the 1924 and 1925 champion Marion Zinderstein Jessup in the final in straight sets.^[6][7]

Palfrey sisters(1927)

On August 27, 1932, she married Arthur Dehon Hill in Sharon, Massachusetts but they divorced several years later.^[8] They had one daughter.^[9] She married Franklin Dexter on August 5, 1939, in Brookline, Massachusetts. On return from their honeymoon in Scotland at the outset of World War II their ship, the passenger liner SS Athenia, was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-30 and sank but the couple survived.^[10] With Franklin, she bore four children.^[9] Franklin Dexter died in July 1977.

References

1. Bud Collins (December 31, 1993). "Turmoil of '93 left those of us in the tennis racket strung out". The Boston Globe. p. 71 – via Newspapers.com. Mianne Palfrey Dexter, 82, one of an extraordinary quintet of sisters who won US junior titles. She also won the women's US Indoor in 1930
2. "Obituary for Mianne (Palfrey) Dexter". The Boston Globe. November 5, 1993. p. 30.
3. Collins, Bud (2016). The Bud Collins History of Tennis (3rd ed.). New York: New Chapter Press. ISBN 978-1-937559-38-0.
4. John B. Knox (April 21, 1929). "Two sisters monopolize titles in indoor tennis". The Sunday Tribune. p. 7 (third section).
5. "Past USTA Girls' Nationals Champions - 18s". USTA.
6. "18-year-old girl wins national tennis title". The Coshocton Tribune. February 2, 1930. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Mianne Palfrey wins from former champ to gain title". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. AP. February 2, 1930. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com. Eighteen-year-old Mianne Palfrey , one of Brookline's five tennis-playing sisters, today became the women's national indoor singles champion by defeating Mrs. Marion Zinderstein Jessup of Wilmington, Del., a former holder of the title 7-5, 6-2, here on the Longwood covered courts.
8. "Miss Mianne Palfrey, tennis star, marries". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. August 28, 1932. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Obituary for Mianne (Palfrey) Dexter". The Boston Globe. November 5, 1993. p. 30. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
10. "New Englanders on Athenia bring war close to home". The Boston Globe. September 5, 1939. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com. Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Dexter, brother-in-law and sister of the internationally known tennis star, Sarah Palfrey Fabyan, were honeymooning in Scotland when war broke. They were among the 35 New Englanders who managed to get passage on the Athenia.