{{Short description|American model}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Cathee Dahmen | image = Cathee Dahmen.png | alt = | caption = Dahmen in 1968 | birth_name = Cathee Dahmen | birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|09|16}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|11|25|1945|09|16}} | death_place = | other_names = Catherine Helen Sachs | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Leonard Whiting|1971|1977|end=div}} * {{marriage|Alan Merrill|1977|1987|end=div}} }} | children = 4 | occupation = Model | known_for = }} '''Catherine Helen Sachs''' (née '''Cathee Dahmen'''; September 16, 1945 – November 25, 1997), was the first Native American supermodel in the 1960s and 1970s.
She was half German, half Ojibwe and was born and raised in Minnesota.<ref name = "adoptee">{{Cite web | url = http://library.adoption.com/articles/native-american-adoptee-coming-home.html | title = Native American Adoptee-coming Home | first = Suzi |last = Fedorko | website = Adoption.com | accessdate = 2012-11-22 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131112223829/http://library.adoption.com/articles/native-american-adoptee-coming-home.html | archive-date = 2013-11-12 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
== Modeling career == Dahmen left home at the age of 17 to live with her uncle, artist George Morrison, in Providence, Rhode Island.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Fedorko |first=Susan |date=2019-11-01 |title=The Mother I Never Knew by Susan Fedorko |url=https://visiblemagazine.com/the-mother-i-never-knew/ |access-date=2023-01-06 |website=VISIBLE Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> She was discovered in her late teens by ''The New York Times'' illustrator Antonio Lopez, who spotted her uncle's portrait of her and was ultimately responsible for her introduction into the fashion industry.
Dahmen spent her peak years with Ford Models, where she was one of the agency's top earners of the 1960s.<ref name = "barr">{{Cite web | url = http://www.nealbarr.com/models/CatheeDahmenBio.htm | title = Cathee Dahmen by Susie Fedorko | website = Neal Barr Photography | accessdate = 2012-11-22 | archive-date = November 12, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131112223614/http://www.nealbarr.com/models/CatheeDahmenBio.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> She appeared on the covers of numerous fashion magazines including, ''Harper's Bazaar'' in 1968<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.paperpursuits.com/magazine_detail.cfm?catid=2&subcatid=85&pid=3169 | title = Harper's Bazaar May 1968 Cathee Dahmen | website = Paper Pursuits | accessdate = 2012-11-22 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130131055853/http://www.paperpursuits.com/magazine_detail.cfm?catid=2&subcatid=85&pid=3169 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2013-01-31 }}</ref> and both UK<ref name=":1" /> ''Vogue'' and ''Italia'' in 1971<ref>{{Cite web |last=catheedahmen |title=Cathee Dahmen |url=https://catheedahmen.tumblr.com/page/3 |access-date=2023-01-06 |website=catheedahmen.tumblr.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fedorko |first=Susan |date=2019-09-24 |title=My Adoption Reunion Story |url=https://livingthesecondact.com/2019/09/24/my-adoption-reunion-story/ |access-date=2023-01-06 |website=Living the Second Act |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> She was also associated with the Youthquake movement.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web | url = http://www.ciaovogue.com/2010/11/august-1971-uk-vogue.html | title = August 1971 - UK Vogue | date = 16 November 2010 | website = Youthquaker, 1965-1975 | accessdate = 2012-11-22 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://archive.today/20130119151207/http://www.ciaovogue.com/2010/11/august-1971-uk-vogue.html | archivedate = 2013-01-19 }}</ref>
== Family == Dahmen grew up in South Minneapolis, Minnesota, and gave birth to her first child, a daughter who she named Veronica Rose, aged 16 in June 1962. The baby was given up for adoption by Dahmen's mother at eleven months of age. <ref>2</ref>
After marrying young British actor Leonard Whiting, Dahmen moved to London where she continued her career, modeling for Models 1. This marriage produced a daughter in 1972, Sarah Beth Whiting, who died in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sarah Knestrick - Obituary |url=https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/stamfordadvocate/170133655 |access-date=2020-09-08 |website=Legacy.com |language=en}}</ref> Dahmen divorced Whiting in the late 1970s and entered her second marriage to singer Alan Merrill (real name Allan Preston Sachs) in 1977, she moved with him to New York from London, in 1980.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.alanmerrill.com/biography/biography.htm | title = Alan Merrill's Biography | website = alanmerrill.com | accessdate = 2012-11-22 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130818205911/http://alanmerrill.com/biography/biography.htm | archivedate = 2013-08-18 }}</ref> Dahmen had by then two children with Merrill, daughter Laura Ann Sachs and son Allan Preston Sachs Jr.<ref>{{Cite news | url = http://www.more.com/home-after-49-years | last = Fedorko | first = Suzie | title = My Birth Mother, The Fashion Model | work = MORE Magazine | accessdate = 2012-11-22 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120920133759/http://www.more.com/home-after-49-years | archivedate = 2012-09-20 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=catheedahmen |title=Cathee Dahmen |url=https://catheedahmen.tumblr.com/familyalbum |access-date=2023-01-06 |website=Family Album KEY: (*)image scanned by me, Allan Sachs. All other images come from my family members from the Dahmen side, my sister, Laura, or father, Alan Merrill. Cathee Dahmen with her parents and...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=littlequeenies |date=July 2013 |title=🌸Little Queenies🌸 |url=https://littlequeenies.tumblr.com/post/56684282311/catheedahmen-cathee-dahmen-alan-merrill |access-date=6 January 2023 |website=Tumblr}}</ref> The couple later divorced and Merrill remarried.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-05 |title=Alan Merrill obituary |url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/05/alan-merrill-obituary |access-date=2023-01-06 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
Dahmen retired from modeling in 1980s and died in 1997 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was survived by her four children.<ref name = "barr"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/08/30/fashion/20120830-LOPEZ.html Cathee Dahmen, Antonio Lopez and friends in 1966], New York Times Fashion & Style section
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dahmen, Cathee}} Category:1945 births Category:1997 deaths Category:Female models from Minnesota Category:American Ojibwe people Category:American people of German descent Category:Deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Category:American female models Category:20th-century American women Category:20th-century American people Category:20th-century Native American women Category:20th-century Native American people Category:Native American people from Minnesota