Radiotopia

From PRX

From PRX's Radiotopia, this is Radio Diaries.

I'm Joe Richman.

At the end of the year, there's always a bit of accounting.

We sum up our accomplishments.

We think about the New Year's resolutions we failed to keep,

the new people who have entered our lives,

and the people we've

lost. Some of them may have been people we were close to. Others were famous, and a whole bunch

made their mark on the world in just some small and lovely way. People like Mona Freeman, who died

this year at the age of 87. Back in 1941, when Mona was just 14 years old,

she became the most famous subway rider in New York City. She was the city's first Miss Subways.

In the train cars, you would see her photo and a short bio. Vivacious Mona Freeman writes for her

school paper, it said. She's interested in school dramatics,

Broadway and Hollywood please note. In fact, Hollywood did note, and Mona appeared in a number

of movies in the 40s and 50s. She later became a painter, but she was always best remembered

for representing New York City Transit. The funny thing is Mona had never even been on the subway

before she won

the Miss Subway's crown. She took her first ride so she could see her very own Miss Subways ad.

Mona was the first Miss Subways, but not the last. Over the next 35 years, there were hundreds. New

Yorkers voted to choose the winners, which meant that Miss Subways reflected the city.

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