Paulina Longworth - Marriage To Alex Sturm

Marriage To Alex Sturm

In 1944, Paulina met Alexander McCormick Sturm, an artist who had a few books published and a recent Yale graduate from a prominent family. They married on August 26, 1944, when Paulina was nineteen. Sturm did not care for the "high-powered establishment types" that had frequented his own wealthy mother’s salon. Consequently, he "was not in awe" of Paulina's mother, Alice. “One of the real reasons that Paulina was attracted to was that she recognized that he could protect her against her mother." Sturm would "stand up to her mother.”

Sturm co-founded Sturm, Ruger & Co., a well-known American firearms company, in 1949. He provided the Germanic heraldic-based eagle logo for the company as well as $50,000 dollars to start the company based on Bill Ruger's vision and gunmanship. "...Paulina had personally helped launch Sturm, Ruger & Co., stuffing envelopes with Alex on Sunday afternoons, and giving moral support to the two partners. She had a faith in Bill Ruger's vison."

The couple lived at Alex Sturm's home in Westport, Connecticut, which was situated on property near his parent's house. They had a daughter, Joanna Mercedes Alessandra Sturm in July 1946. Paulina has been described being a "devoted mother" that adored Joanna. Then tragedy struck. Alexander Sturm was hospitalized with viral hepatitis and died ten days later on November 13, 1951 at the age of 28. Losing her husband and protector plunged Paulina deeper into depression and dependency on alcohol and sleeping pills, and she also turned to religion, converting to Catholicism. In 1952, she joined Dorothy Day's Chrystie Street hospitality house on New York's Lower East Side. She also volunteered at several Washington, D.C. hospitals.