Marilyn Monroe is arguably one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century. It is not often that a never-before-seen pristine image of her from her prime emerges. But one such photo was discovered in a shoebox of old family photos from more than half a century ago.
This photograph of Marilyn Monroe was taken during a little known adventure that occurred in 1954 when she went to Korea for 10 days to visit the troops. She interrupted her honeymoon with Joe DiMaggio in Tokyo to go to Korea with the USO. This was the first time she had ever been out of the United States. With Marilyn is my grandfather, Col. Jack Kelsey, who was the commander of the Taegu Air Force Base.
At the time of the photo she was 28. She died a short eight years later on Aug. 5, 1962. If she were alive today she would be 84 years old.
As the CEO of Life Care Funding, I’m a long-term care specialist and senior advocate. As I looked at this photo of Marilyn with my late grandfather, it struck me that today she would be the same age as many of the people I work with, helping them navigate the maze of long-term care options and the complexities of funding care. Other stars from that era, such as Betty White, Florence Henderson, Shirley Jones, and Wilford Brimley, to name a few, are now spokespeople for companies that help seniors with a variety of health and retirement issues.
Would Marilyn have joined their ranks in her later years? Would she have become an advocate and spokesperson for her generation? Would we now look at her as a different type of icon taking on causes and issues important to her and her contemporaries? We will never know, but we can enjoy her work and images from the past as we wonder what might have been if she had lived past the too youngage of 36.
It was an incredible discovery for us to find this photo and it’s my pleasure to share this precious family heirloom with the world.
Marilyn Monroe in Korea 1954, courtesy Chris Orestis of Life Care Funding
*the photo is property of the Orestis family and registered with the Library of Congress
About Chris Orestis
Chris Orestis, nationally known senior health-care advocate, expert, and author is CEO of Life Care Funding, (www.lifecarefunding.com), which created the model for converting life insurance policies into protected Long-Term Care Benefit funds. His company has been providing care benefits to policy holders since 2007. A former life insurance industry lobbyist with a background in long-term care issues, he created the model to provide an option for middle-class people who are not wealthy enough to pay for long-term care, and not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.
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