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Below find
the Irene Craigmile Bolam biographical account reprinted
from the on-line public encyclopedia, Wikipedia. It is misleading, and Beyond 37's (Irene-Amelia.com's)
comments are inserted in response to the Wikipedia article primarily supplied by Alex Mandel
of the Ukraine. FROM WIKIPEDIA:
| "Irene Craigmile Bolam" | 
"Irene Craigmile Bolam c.1980"
|
Mandel/Wikipedia:
"Born
October 1, 1904 Newark, NJ"
"Died July 7, 1982, Bedford, New Jersey"
"Occupation Banker, Homemaker"
"Spouse(s) Guy Bolam, Charles Craigmile, Alvin
Heller"
"Parents Richard J. O'Crowley
and Bridget Doyle O'Crowley"
Mandel/Wikipedia: "Irene Craigmile Bolam (1 October
1904 – 7 July 1982) was a New York banker and resident of Monroe Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey.[1][2] In 1970,
a book which was soon widely discredited set forth an allegation she was Amelia Earhart. Bolam denied the claim, took legal
action against the publisher and the book was withdrawn."
[BEYOND 37':
The above is not accurate. No birth certificate for Irene was ever found and the true year of her birth
has always been disputed. For example, the 1920 census listed her as "age 14." As
well, the Gervais-Irene never denied herself to have formerly been known as Amelia Earhart, and there
is no mention in the article of there having been three different human beings who were identified
as one in the same 'Irene Craigmile Bolam.' The one who appears in the photo above was the 1945-1982 publicly identified Irene
Craigmile (Bolam), AKA the Gervais-Irene who Joe Gervais asserted his four decade
long claim (1965 until his death in 2005) identifying her as the former Amelia
Earhart. She became 'Irene Craigmile Bolam' after she married Englishman Guy Bolam in 1958, who was described by his brother to have been 'MI6.' The book, Amelia Earhart Lives referred to Guy Bolam as "her alleged
husband" thus damaging Irene's reputation, and it was among the two main reasons cited by her attorney
to have it withdrawn. (The other was her home ownership in New Jersey, where the book conveyed it to have belonged to Floyd
Odlum, the husband of famous pilot Jackie Cochran.) The 'Irene' shown above in the color photo appears nowhere in photographs
identified as 'Irene' prior to the 1940s. Two other women interchangeably do though; the 'original' Irene Craigmile, and the
'1940s family identified' Irene Craigmile, AKA the Non Gervais-Irene. Note: The lawsuit between the
Gervais-Irene and Gervais & Klaas was settled with a ten-dollar consideration paid by both sides after the Gervais-Irene
refused to submit her fingerprints as proof-positive of her identity.]
Mandel/Wikipedia:
CONTENTS:
*Amelia Earhart Lives
*References
*Notes
*Bibliography
*External links
"Amelia
Earhart Lives"
Mandel/Wikipedia: "In
1965, Major Joseph Gervais had a chance encounter with Bolam, believing she was Earhart. Using Gervais' research, author Joe
Klaas documented this assertion in his book Amelia Earhart Lives (1970). Bolam denied being Earhart, filed a $1.5 million
lawsuit and submitted a lengthy affidavit refuting the claim. The book's publisher McGraw-Hill pulled Klaas' book from the
market shortly after it was released and court records indicate they made an out of court settlement with her."
[BEYOND 37': It was not a "chance
encounter." In 1965 Amelia Earhart's long time close friend, famous pilot Viola Gentry invited Major Gervais
and paid for his entire family to fly across the country to New York so he could discuss his investigation
results concerning Amelia's 1937 disappearance with a club of
famous retired pilots known as "The Early Birds of Aviation." There,
Viola introduced Major Gervais to Irene Craigmile Bolam and her husband, Guy.
He noticed Mrs. Bolam was wearing a Distinguished Flying Cross pin and an Oak Leaf Cluster signifying Air Force Major status,
both of which were decorations awarded in the past to Amelia Earhart. Again, there is also no mention of how the 'lawsuit'
(actually a summary judgment hearing that reached the New York State Supreme Court) dragged on for five years, and it was
finally settled with a ten dollar consideration paid by Gervais and Klaas to Irene, and by Irene to Gervais and Klaas after
she refused Joe Gervais' request to submit her fingerprints. By turning down his request for her fingerprints, she forfeited
her right to what 'potentially' could have been a final settlement awarded her to be paid by Gervais and Klaas over time in
excess of $1,000,000. And nowhere in the 'affidavit' does Irene actually deny herself to have been the former Amelia Earhart.
It is true however, for publishing the book without enlisting her cooperation and for the few libelous remarks that were damaging
to her reputation, McGraw-Hill was ordered to pay her a $60,000 settlement.]
Mandel/Wikipedia: "Bolam's personal life history has since been thoroughly documented, eliminating
any possibility she was Earhart."
[BEYOND
37': This is not true. To the extent Irene's life could be documented, no less than three different human beings appeared
as one in the same 'Irene' in the photographic history of her life from the early 1900s to 1982. So much is clearly ascertainable,
especially in the 1982 New Jersey News Tribune series. Not to mention, in no way has anyone ever "eliminated the possibility"
of the woman in the color photograph shown above to have been the former Amelia Earhart.]
Mandel/Wikipedia: "Evidence presented in the affidavit
included her 1937 private pilot's licence [sic] and marriage certificate. Her personal life was also a matter of public record.
Born Irene Madalaine O'Crowley, she married Charles Craigmile and on his death, married Alvin Heller but was subsequently
divorced from Heller c. 1939. She remarried to Guy Bolam in 1959. Although Irene Craigmile Bolam was a pilot, her main career
revolved around banking and finance in New York. Brother-in-law John Bolam said, ""She was influential, knew many
well-placed people and was well-traveled."" Many mutual friends such as racer Elinor Smith also knew both Earhart
and Bolam."
[BEYOND 37's NOTES:
1.) The Gervais-Irene (Gervais' former
AE) maintained some of her old friendships. Note: The public
had never heard the name 'Irene Bolam' before she was implicated as the former Amelia Earhart in 1970. As Monsignor Kelley avowed, it was not her wish to be a public person anymore.
So much is the reason she took a new identity after she went missing. She never
volunteered or expected herself to be recognized for who she used to be, except she eventually was recognized by retired Air
Force Major Joe Gervais in 1965. And "many mutual friends" indeed. Famous pilots Viola Gentry and Fay Gillis Wells
knew both Amelia and her later-life Gervais-Irene self, as did Amelia's sister, Muriel always know her
as both Amelia and Irene, and so did Attorney Irene Rutherford O'Crowley, the original Irene Craigmile's
aunt. These individuals and select others were no doubt in league with maintaining the non-public quota
of such a non-realized truth.
2.) The 'original'
Irene's 1937 pilot's license was dated May 31, 1937 (the day before Amelia left from Miami on her epic world flight.) Beyond
37' previously obtained a copy of it from Joe Gervais. It was never signed by anyone, let alone the original Irene Craigmile,
as she had only flown as a licensed pilot for a very brief time in mid-1933. (The original Irene had a child in early 1934
and never flew again. According to Rollin Reineck who researched the flying history of the original Irene Craigmile, as a
licensed pilot she had a total of only 'twenty-six' solo flight hours documented in mid-1933. 1937's was the last pilot's
license issued to her, and the only renwal of it since it was first awarded to the original
Irene in 1933.)
3.) Aspects of everyone's
personal life end up as "a matter of public record." Since the original Irene was a 'real' person, of course there
is exists proof of it, to most specifically include her 1934 born son, Larry Heller, who in 2006 identified an entirely different
person than the Gervais-Irene as his early childhood mother.
4.) The 'original' Irene's middle name of "Madaline" was found on record in three different ways;
as Madeline, Madalaine, and Madaline. Yet "Madaline" is the O'Crowley family history spelling. (Note 'Edna Madaline
O'Crowley,' the original Irene's Aunt.) Notice the above clumsy language as well: "she married Charles Craigmile and
on his death, married Alvin Heller but was subsequently divorced from Heller c. 1939." Here's what actually happened:
Charles Craigmile, the 'original' Irene's first husband since 1927 who was fifteen years her senior, died suddenly of an appendicitis
attack in 1931. A year later in 1932, the 'original' Irene's friends, famous pilots Viola Gentry and Amelia Earhart introduced
her to flying airplanes by arranging lessons for her on Long Island, NY. In mid-1933, just after she received her pilot's
license the 'original' Irene became pregnant out of wedlock via her flight instructor Al Heller, and the two eloped and were
married in August of 1933. In early March of 1934 their son, Clarence 'Larry' Heller was born in Newark, NJ. The trail of
the 'original' Irene grows cold after that. Note: In 1994 a 1970s and 1980s friend
of the Gervais-Irene, Diana Dawes mentioned in a taped statement how she "understood someone had died and that's how
she (the former Amelia) was able to get her new name." In 1940 a legal 'annulment' (as opposed to a divorce) was filed
to declare the original Irene's marriage to Al Heller 'null and void,' citing Mr. Heller had already been married before and
had never obtained a legal divorce from his previous wife, thus returning the name of "Irene Craigmile" to be legally
available for the former Amelia Earhart's use. Amelia, of course, was described
to have "disappeared without a trace" three years earlier in 1937. After her return to the U. S. in the mid-1940s
the new Irene Craigmile (the Gervais-Irene) trained to become a Bank Vice President
in Great Neck on Long Island, NY beginning in the mid-1940s. As Amelia she had loved Great Neck, having lived there with her
friend Marion Stabler in late 1924 to early 1925. Amelia and her sister Muriel called it 'their favorite Long Island beach
haunt.' The Great Neck National Bank 'provisioned the Gervais-Irene her new career.' She left the banking
trade after she married Englishman Guy Bolam on July 25, 1958 (as opposed to "in 1959.") She had again become an
active and recognized Zonta member, hob-nobbed with her sister Muriel and other past flying friends
at Zonta and Wings Club Functions, and in the 1960s and 1970s she became a strong corporate influence for Radio Luxembourg,
even serving as its President after Guy died in 1970. In the 1960s she and Guy often traveled internationally together, and
they owned a cabin cruiser boat called 'The Harpoon III' she used to race up and down the Long Island Sound, herself most
always at the helm. When she married Guy on July 25, 1958 (some referred to it as a marriage of convenience for both, although
they did appear as endeared to each other) the date marked one day after what would have been her 61st birthday as AE.
5.) The Gervais-Irene's survived brother-in-law, John Bolam's
2002 Associated Press quote is completely transcibed this way: "We were inclined to think Irene probably was not Amelia.
However, the forensic studies are very convincing. She was not an ordinary housewife as she claimed. She was influential,
knew many well placed people, and was well traveled."
Mandel/Wikipedia:
"In 2006, Criminal forensic expert Kevin Richlin was hired by National Geographic to study photographs of Earhart and
Bolam and cited many measurable facial differences between them, concluding that the two people were not the same."
[Beyond 37': This is not true. Forensic detective Kevin
Richlin never forensically "concluded" the two were not one in the same and admits that. Richlin
did mention the producers of the show did not supply him with enough adequate photo data and/or other forensic data
to conduct a thorough analysis, and therefore he could not conclude that they
either were or were not one in the same individual human being. Note: Thus
marks the end of the brief and misleading Wikipedia biography page of Irene Craigmile Bolam.)]
Some notes and a Bibliography appear on
the page. Although articles and books are cited, they were shaped to favor Alex Mandel's
anti 'Earhart survived and became Irene' campaign.
External links
*Earhart
comparison to Bolam (TIGHAR's 2004 unsuccessful debunk attempt)
*Bolam as Earhart theory (Mandel rejection essay no longer linked)
*Bolam Theory with Lawsuit Details (Associated Press, 2002)
*Where is Amelia Earhart? Three Theories (National Geographic, 2003)
personal data
NAME Bolam, Irene Craigmile
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Banker, homemaker
DATE OF BIRTH October 1 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Newark, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH 7 July 1982
PLACE OF DEATH Bedford, New Jersey
End Wikipedia Page
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beyond 37' Note: The "external link" listed above labeled
"Earhart Comparison to Bolam" is that of TIGHAR, (Richard Gillespie) whose theory offered Earhart and Noonan to
have perished on the desert Island of Nikumororo hundreds of miles south of their destination of Howland Island. TIGHAR sports
a flashy website and has received well over a million dollars of private contributions since the 1980s, based on Ric Gillespie's
assurance that he expected to find Amelia Earhart's plane there. He's continued to try and draw public interest and to raise
more money, though by now the most ardent researchers have chalked his ideas up to little more than a 'Gilligans Island' type
of castaways story. (Mr. Gillespie never found anything on the island described as 'credible' by anybody but himself and some
of his devoted TIGHAR members.) Soon after the Associated Press began to re-examine the new credibility added to the long
held Joe Gervais claim about Irene-Amelia in 2002, to be followed by Colonel Rollin Reineck's Amelia Earhart Survived
book publication in 2003, Mr. Gillespie built the page shown on the above link to also campaign against the newly resurfaced
Gervais-Earhart paradigm. It is one sided, of course. Any favoritism shown by the public to any other theory than TIGHAR's
has always been met by Mr. Gillespie head on. See further down, how after Dr. Walter Birkby's 2003 comments expressed favoritism
towards the work of Beyond 37', Mr. Gillespie flew himself to Dallas, Texas to confront Dr. Birkby one on one, putting him
on the spot before he had a chance to conduct his promised analysis. Dr. Birkby initially stated how based on his preliminary
review of Beyond 37's information, he found it "hard to disagree" with the claim of there having been more than
one Irene Craigmile Bolam who shared the same identity, and in the possibility of one of them having been the 'former' Amelia
Earhart. Ric Gillespie noticed this of course, confronted Dr. Birkby, and twisted the good Dr.'s words
to serve his own platitudes.
Notice too, how Dr. Alex Mandel of the Ukraine, among the most
ardent of the anti Irene-Amelia campaigners, dominates the contributor notes pages for Wikipedia. Across the top of the Wikipedia
page one will notice the tabs "Article," "Discussion," "Edit This Page," and "History."
Especially in the "Discussion" and "History" links, both Mandel and Gwen Gale obsessively dominate the
input, with Mandel going to extreme measures to try and plead his case of there having been nothing controversial about the
past lives of Irene Craigmile Bolam and/or Amelia Earhart. Take a look at his following misinformation comments regarding
Beyond 37's research contributions to the Irene-Amelia topic:
Posted by Dr. Alex Mandel
of the Ukraine:
"After reading the AP article (from
"Atchison Globe online"), I found that it includes some factually incorrect statements, that
provides potential misinforming effects - "crediting" the fantastic anti-factual theory with undue weight. The statement
about the photographic overlays with "pilot’s face and hands, matching perfectly with those
of Bolam" is of unclear origin."
[BEYOND 37'S NOTE: This is untrue. Both portions 'hands &
face,' plus full heights, arm lengths, foot size, etc. all appeared in the book and video that were premiered and placed on
display at the 2002 Oakland Aerospace Amelia Earhart Research Symposium attended by three hundred people (see
journalist Rosalea Barker's article about it) and in Rollin Reineck's 2003 published
book, Amelia Earhart Survived.]
Mandel continues: "In a very best case it quotes and represents
the personal opinions of a few overenthusiastic believers in his theory."
[Beyond 37': Notice the
words "few" and "overenthusiastic" as opposed to "numerous" and "serious." As well,
it was never anyone else's "theory" beyond the
claim originated by Major Joe Gervais. What Major Gervais
asserted was later decribed as "his theory" after he met and photographed Irene Craigmile
Bolam (Irene-Amelia) in 1965 at a gathering of famous retired pilots. Joe Gervais stated with 'certainty' he recognized her
for who she used to be, and after diligently researching her background for five years, he determined the Irene Craigmile
Bolam he met in 1965 had to have been no other person than the living former Amelia Earhart. Nobody was ever able to prove
him incorrect, and he died in 2005 still believing and asserting it... after forty years of steadfastly
doing so. As it turned out, he was correct.]
Mandel: "The differences between
Earhart and Bolam - both in bodial and facial aspects - are numerous and quite obvious, some of them striking; and it was
always noted by numerous observers and researchers, both during the presentations of the theory and in all other cases when
and where some discussion about this topic ever happened."
[Beyond 37': This is plain and simple BS, profligately issued
by a person wielding a false-truth campaign. (Is 'bodial' a word?)]
Mandel: "The important and
principal fact is that there was no [sic] any positive forensic confirmation for the theory ever provided to the public and
scientific community for any professional check and proper verification."
[Beyond
37': Forensic Anthropologists Dr. Birkby and Dr. Fenton initially agreed to separate the two different Irenes and to
throughly conduct a full body analysis of Irene-Amelia as compared to Amelia, but after Dr. Birkby was confronted by Rich
Gillespie of the Tighar organization and phoned by Bill Prymak of the AES, he became discouraged commenting "I don't
go for this kind of thing," causing both he and his partner to do a limited null hypothesis of the post war augmented
'Irene-Amelia's' face (similar to Richlins) as compared to Amelia's from the 1930s.]
Mandel: "Moreover,
two 'forensic pathologists' mentioned in the article - Dr. Walter Birkby (Arizona) and Dr. Todd Fenton (Michigan) - actually
issued a negative verdict about the credibility of the theory, refusing to support it;"
[Beyond
37': This is not true. And again they were 'Anthropologists' as opposed to "Pathologists," two very different fields.
Any so called 'negation' of theirs was based on the lack of Irene's past medical records being made available to research
investigators, that would account for the deviated septum rhinoplasty the survived
AE clearly endured. Not to mention the cosmetic dentistry that reduced the gap between the former Amelia's
two front teeth.]
Mandel: "...and in May 2005 Colonel Rollin Reineck - the author of the book supporting
this theory published in 2002..."
[Beyond 37': Reineck's book Amelia Earhart Survived was
published in December 2003 and was not in stores until 2004.]
Mandel: "...informed about this the "community"
of Earhart researchers (although not without understandable regrets)."
[Beyond 37': Again, this
is plain and simple BS. Solid proof exists where Rollin Reineck can be seen in National Geographic's 2006 filmed
'Unsolved History' Amelia Earhart TV special, where Reineck states "Earhart survived, there's no doubt about it."
Colonel Reineck continued to support and share his knowledge of the forensic truth
about the Irene-Amelia conveyance and the accuracy of the forensic study until he passed away in September
of 2007.]
Mandel: "Then, as the article mentions, in 2006 Criminal forensic expert Kevin Richland was hired
by National Geographic to study photographs of Earhart and Bolam and cited many measurable facial differences between them."
[Beyond 37': It's spelled "Richlin." And there weren't "many" differences he pointed out,
there were only a few, and they were the same 'medically explainable' ones Dr.'s Birkby and Fenton alluded to upon observation.
(Not to leave out how the effects of aging itself vary in all individuals; noses and ears will continue to grow, noses sag,
facial fat from the upper nose bridge will move southward, as generally does all facial fat causing facial 'sagging.' Mr.
Richlin, not a medical expert, never touched on these things, nor on dental work or rhinoplasty possibilities.)
No doubt National Geographic engaged Kevin Richlin, (surely with encouragement from the Amelia Earhart Society's long time
founding President, Bill Prymak who worked with National Geographic on the special Mr. Richlin appeared in) to serve as a
back pocket, non-historically informed 'ringer.' Dr. Birkby on the other hand, cited what he called 'a possible non-accounted
for past trauma' that could have occurred at some point to cause the nose difference he observed, to include the probability
of a past deviated septum rhinoplasty procedure having been performed to account for
it.]
Mandel: "It seems for me that all the above mentioned leaves the referred article without the
degree of seriousness, factual accuracy and credibility required for the "source" referred in encyclopedic article.
Not intended to insist on anything.. but, because of presented reasons, for me it would seem more reasonable to remove this
link... Kind Regards - Alex Mandel 13:48, 2 July 2007."
[Beyond 37': Dr. Alex Mandel of the Ukraine feverishly
trying to control a situation through his own distribution of misinformation. This is an above sample among many of Alex Mandel's
overt campaign to not only influence Wikipedia controllers, but the entire internet viewers
perception as well.]
Below: Take a look at the two photos below. Realize they were forensically
identified as 1940s photos of two different people history described to have been one in the same person, whose full name
had been; "Irene Madaline O'Crowley Craigmile Heller Bolam." (More simply; Irene Craigmile Bolam.) One photo bears the image of the Gervais-Irene (who Joe Gervais later met and photographed in 1965) and
the other bears the 1947 image of the woman identified by the original Irene's son, Larry Heller as the 'mother' he recalled
from his early childhood, (AKA The 'Non Gervais-Irene.') Note as well, the 'Gervais-Irene' appears nowhere in photos identified
as 'Irene' prior to the mid-1940s.
|
|
| Above: "Gervais-Irene" - 1945 |
|
|
| "Non Gervais-Irene" - 1947 |
|
Below: Of the three different women
historically identified as 'one in the same' Irene Craigmile Bolam, only the Gervais-Irene bore a head to toe congruence to
Amelia Earhart. ('Irene-Amelia' refers to equal overlay belnds of the Gervais-Irene and Amelia Earhart.) Alex Mandel and Bill
Prymak knew, but intentionally left it out of the information they furnished for
Wikipedia.
| The Gervais-Irene & Amelia |
|
| Two photos in an equal blend. |
|
| Irene-Amelia |
|
| Irene-1963 / Amelia-1928, age thirty-one. |
|
| Irene-Amelia |
|
| Irene-1965 / Amelia-1933 |
|
| Irene-Amelia |
|
| Irene-1976 / Amelia-1932 |
|
| Irene-Amelia |
|
| Irene-1978 / Amelia-1929 |
|
|
Believe in the truth.