Ione V. Garr
Cite this Page
"Ione V. Garr," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/1024.
- Position
- Cook
- Years in President's House
- 1945 – 1953
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Presidency
- Harry S. Truman
- Biography
- Born on March 21, 1896, in Missouri, Ione Vietta Garr was trained as a “domestic,” an occupation common for Black women in the American South after the Civil War and well into the twentieth century. (1) Garr was hired by the family of Harry S. Truman in 1928 and took on many responsibilities, including cooking, cleaning, and caring for their daughter, Margaret. (2)
When Harry S. Truman became president after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, the Trumans asked Garr to accompany them to the White House. In particular, she cared for First Lady Bess Truman’s elderly mother, Margaret “Madge” Wallace. Garr also brought a taste of Missouri to the White House, fixing the Truman family’s favorite home cooked meals such as baked ham and angel food cake. (3)
After leaving the White House with the Trumans, Vietta Garr continued to work for the family and was an active part of her local church. Considered a part of their family, the Trumans established a trust to support Garr financially and helped her to build a home in Independence, Missouri. (4) In total, Garr worked for the family for thirty-six years. Harry Truman’s grandson, Clifton, later recollected: “I can’t help but think that if my brothers and I are free of racial prejudice… it’s not only because our parents and grandparents raised us that way, but also because Vietta was so much a part of the family.” (5) Garr died on December 31, 1973, and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Independence. (6) - (1) Ester Bloom, “The Decline of Domestic Help,” The Atlantic, September 23, 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/decline-domestic-help-maid/406798/; “Iona Vietta Garr,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10271/vietta-garr.
(2) “Vietta Garr,” National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/hstr/learn/historyculture/upload/Vietta%20Garr.pdf
(3) Ibid.
(4) Brian Burnes, “Truman Family Secrets,” https://www.flatlandkc.org/news-issues/truman-family-secrets/.
(5) Brian Burnes, Harry S. Truman: His Life and Times (Kansas City, MO: Kansas City Star Books, 2003), 205.
(6) “Iona Vietta Garr,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10271/vietta-garr. - Birthplace
- Missouri, USA