1906 Irena Baruch born in
Lodz, Poland
1925-33 Irena studies fine art in Warsaw, London and Vienna
1934 Irena marries U.S. diplomat John Cooper Wiley in
Toulon, France
1934-36 John serves as Counselor and Consul General U.S.
Embassy Moscow
1936 Irena travels to the U.S. for the first time
1936-37 John serves as Consul General to Belgium
1937-38 John serves as Charge d'Affaires ad interim, Consul
General, U.S. Legation Vienna. Nazi Germany annexes Austria
in 1938; John Wiley closes Legation
1938-40 John serves as Envoy Extraordinary U.S. Embassies
Riga and Tallinn Russia occupies the Baltics 1940
1939 John F. Kennedy visits the Wileys in Estonia; Irena
carves an altarpiece with his face as an angel
1939 Irena becomes a U.S. citizen, sworn in by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
1940 Wileys leave the Baltic States via Siberia and China.
En route Irena meets Teilhard de Chardin who entrusts her
with his manuscript of The Phenomenon of Man
to carry to the U.S.
1941-44 Wileys remain in Washington, D.C. during the war.
Irena runs art therapy sessions in Forest Glen, an adjunct
to Walter Reed Hospital for soldiers
1943 Irena is photographed for a spread in Vogue Magazine
1944 Irena completes a portrait of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, now hanging in Hyde Park, NY
1944-47 John serves as Ambassador U.S. Embassy Bogota
1947 Alice Acheson, wife of Dean Acheson, shows art with
Irena at the Wildenstein Gallery, New York City
1947-48 John serves as Ambassador U.S. Embassy Lisbon
1948-51 John serves as Ambassador U.S. Embassy Tehran
1951-53 John serves as Ambassador U.S. Embassy Panama City
1954 John retires, Wileys settle in Washington, D.C.
1962 Irena publishes her memoirs Around the Globe in Twenty
Years
1967 John dies February 3rd in Washington, D.C.
1968-70 Irena takes three USO-sponsored trips to Vietnam,
Japan, Okinawa, Hawaii and Guam where she sketches injured
soldiers
1972 Irena dies April 24th in Washington, D.C.
