Electra Waggoner Biggs (November 8, 1912 – April 23, 2001) was a

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

-born heiress, socialite and artist, and owner of a portion of the

Waggoner Ranch The Waggoner Ranch is a historic ranch located 13 miles south of Vernon, Texas, in north Texas near the Red River and Oklahoma border. Founded in 1852 by Daniel Waggoner, it is the largest ranch within one fence in the United States.

in Texas. She is widely known for her sculptures of

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

Knute Rockne Knute Kenneth Rockne (; March 4, 1888 – March 31, 1931) was an American football player and coach at the University of Notre Dame. Leading Notre Dame for 13 seasons, Rockne accumulated over 100 wins and three national championships. Rockne is ...

and numerous other prominent subjects. Both the Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop, and the

Buick Electra The Buick Electra is a full-size luxury car manufactured and marketed by Buick from 1959 to 1990, over six generations. Introduced as the replacement for the Roadmaster lines, the Electra served as the flagship Buick sedan line through its en ...

, were named after Biggs, the latter by her brother-in-law, Harlow H. Curtice, former president of Buick and later president of

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

Early life

Biggs was born on November 8, 1912, and was named after her aunt,

Electra Waggoner Electra Waggoner (January 6, 1882 – November 26, 1925) was an American rancher and socialite from Texas. She was an heiress to the Waggoner Ranch, one of the largest ranches in the United States. The town of Electra, Texas, was named in her hono ...

, after whom the town of

Electra, Texas Electra is a city in Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area. The population was 2,292 at the 2020 census., down from 2,791 in 2010. Electra claims the title of Pump Jack Capital of ...

, is named. Her father, E. Paul Waggoner, was an heir to the

in Texas. Her mother Helen was a socialite. Biggs grew up in a privileged family and attended Miss Wright's Boarding School in Pennsylvania, where she discovered a love of art — later studying sculpture in New York and at the Sorbonne in Paris. Ultimately becoming well known as a sculptor, a large collection of Biggs' works are featured at the Red River Valley Museum in

Vernon, Texas Vernon is a city and the county seat of Wilbarger County, Texas, United States. and as of the 2010 census had a population of 11,002. History The original town was called Eagle Springs by the indigenous community as early as 1858. After t ...

Sculpture

Most of the sculptures Biggs created were busts. They include: * US President

US Vice President The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The ...

John Nance Garner John Nance Garner III (November 22, 1868 – November 7, 1967), known among his contemporaries as "Cactus Jack", was the 32nd vice president of the United States, serving from 1933 to 1941, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A member of the ...

* General (later US President)

Sid Richardson Sid Williams Richardson (April 25, 1891 – September 30, 1959) was an American businessman and philanthropist known for his association with the city of Fort Worth. Life and career A native of Athens in east Texas, Richardson attended Baylor ...

Victor McLaglen Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was a British-American actor and boxer.Obituary '' Variety'', 11 November 1959, page 79. His film career spanned from the early 1920s through the 1950s, initially ...

William Thomas Waggoner William Thomas Waggoner (August 31, 1852 – December 11, 1934) was an American rancher, oilman, banker, horsebreeder and philanthropist from Texas. He was the owner of the Waggoner Ranch, where he found oil in 1903. He was the founding president ...

* Amon Carter Jr. *

Jacqueline Cochran Jacqueline Cochran (May 11, 1906 – August 9, 1980) was an American pilot and business executive. She pioneered women's aviation as one of the most prominent racing pilots of her generation. She set numerous records and was the first woman to br ...

* Baron Von Wrangle, an

Arrow Collar Man Arrow is a direct to consumer brand of menswear owned by Authentic Brands Group and primarily vended by Amazon. ''The Arrow Collar Man'' was the historic marketing campaign featuring male models who appeared in advertisements for shirts and de ...

* Jimmy Robinson *

* Frank Phillips * Jack Chrysler *

Herbert Marcus Herbert Marcus (September 6, 1878 – December 11, 1950) was one of the co-founders of Neiman Marcus, and later became its chief executive officer. Biography Herbert was born to a Jewish family in Louisville, Kentucky. He dropped out of high sc ...

Personal life

Biggs married Gordon Bowman in 1933, divorcing two years later — their wedding was photographed by

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (; March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter and curator and a pioneer of fashion photography. His gown images for the magazine ''Art et Décoration'' in 1911 were the first modern ...

. Her second husband, John Biggs, worked for

International Paper The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 39,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

and together they had two daughters, Helen Biggs Willingham of Vernon, Texas and Electra (Ellie) Biggs Moulder of Jacksonville, Florida. As well as living at the Waggoner Ranch, Biggs maintained a home at 4700 Preston Road in Dallas, designed by locally noted architect

Anton Korn Anton F. Korn (1886-August 23, 1942) was an American architect based in Texas, known mostly for his residences. A large number of the works are in Dallas and in the Dallas enclave Highland Park, Texas. A number of his works are listed on the Nati ...

. She died on April 23, 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biggs, Electra Waggoner 1912 births 2001 deaths Artists from Fort Worth, Texas American socialites Sculptors from Texas 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women sculptors