I read this story today and it touched my heart and made me want to share.
At age 10, Sandy Allen was 6 foot 3. By sixteen, she had crested 7 feet. At her tallest she was 7 feet, 7 inches tall and was recognized as the world’s tallest female. She passed away today, at the age of 53.
In 1974, she wrote to Guinness World Records in an effort to befriend someone she could identify with.
“It is needless to say my social life is practically nil and perhaps the publicity from your book may brighten my life,” she wrote.
I guess the recognition brought her out of her shell. According to the AP, Allen came to celebrate her height, and she “appeared on television shows and spoke to church and school groups to bring youngsters her message that it was all right to be different.”
That’s a beautiful thing. Click here for a remarkable slide show about Sandy Allen’s life. Judging from the comments about her, she seems to have been a really genuine, sweet, remarkable lady.
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August 14th, 2008 at 12:16 am
aww.
I saw her on some TV show about growth disorders and she seemed like such a nice, friendly person. I wish I could have met her. It really is about what’s on the inside. Rest in peace, Sandy.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:37 am
Wow, she seemed like a wonderful lady. My 5′3″ self hopes she’s resting in paradise.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:43 am
This is sad news ,but may she rest in peace.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:07 am
WOW! I thought I was the tallest woman in the world!! I’m 6′2 & people stare at ME all the time! Although I do get lots of compliments, I couldn’t imagine dealing with being any taller. I’m glad she let other people know it’s alright to be different; more people need to truly accept that.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Rest in peace. In this country and probably world-wide…we have such fixations with height. Men can’t be too short and women can’t be too tall or else they’re considered oddities at best and undesirable as a mate at worst. (E.g., how many women do you know say “I can’t date a man that is less that 6 feet tall…Our children will be short”). Sandy had to deal with that (peoples’ biased attitudes) and the physical pain her stature brought with it, but she carried herself gracefully and tried to live her life the best way she knew how. I’m praying she is still standing tall in heaven!
August 14th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Hi,
Very nice beauty blog you have here. Found your blog after searching information for makeup reviews. Thanks for the great information!
My name is Irene and I’m involved in an online beauty community website called http://www.ColorMeGorgeous.com. I was hoping that you would have a minute to check out the site and perhaps if you liked what you saw… write about it on your blog?
I may be going out on a limb by asking you for promotional help through your blog, but I hope you find ColorMeGorgeous.com to be as news worthy/helpful as I perceive it to be. There’s still a lot of work to be done with it, but I’m working on it. It’s hard to compete when you’re a small fish in a huge sea with huge sites like MUA and the likes, but I do what I can
My favorite part of the site is the ‘critic’s corner’ where members can review or read up on various product reviews for makeup and skincare. Then there’s always the forum, the photo gallery, the ask a makeup artist page, etc.
Thanks for your time
Best,
Irene
August 15th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
[...] (Source: Afrobella Blog) [...]
August 17th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
RIP