Alma de Bretteville Spreckels (March 24, 1881 – August 7, 1968), known both as "Big Alma" (she was 6 feet (1.8 m) tall) and "The Great Grandmother of San Francisco", was a wealthy socialite and philanthropist who, among her many accomplishments, persuaded her first husband, sugar magnate Adolph B. Spreckels to donate the California Palace of the Legion of Honor to the city of San Francisco, California.
She was born Alma Charlotte Corday le Norman...
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Alma de Bretteville Spreckels (March 24, 1881 – August 7, 1968), known both as "Big Alma" (she was 6 feet (1.8 m) tall) and "The Great Grandmother of San Francisco", was a wealthy socialite and philanthropist who, among her many accomplishments, persuaded her first husband, sugar magnate Adolph B. Spreckels to donate the California Palace of the Legion of Honor to the city of San Francisco, California.
She was born Alma Charlotte Corday le Normand de Bretteville in the Sunset District portion of San Francisco, the fifth of six children of Viggo and Mathilde de Bretteville, two Danish immigrants. The family was very poor during her early childhood, but in contrast to Viggo who claimed to be descended from Franco-Danish nobility (he claimed Napoleon Bonaparte as an ancestor) and used that as an excuse to avoid work while simultaneously deriding the "nouveau riche" of California, Mathilde had enough ingenuity and business sense to open a combination Danish bakery–laundry service–massage...
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