Editing Damon Runyon (section)

==Personal life==
While in New York City, Runyon courted and eventually married Ellen Egan. Their marriage produced two children, Mary and Damon Jr. A modern writer remarks that "by contemporary standards, Runyon was a marginal husband and father."<ref name=club>{{cite news |last=McClanahan |first=Michael D. |date=January 1, 2016 |title=How Damon Runyon came to the Denver Press Club |url=https://denverpressclub.org/damon-runyon-denver-press-club/ |work=[[Denver Press Club]]|access-date=December 3, 2023}}</ref>  In 1928, Egan separated from Runyon permanently  and moved to [[Bronxville]] with their children after hearing persistent rumors about her husband's infidelities. As it became subsequently known, Runyon, in 1916, was covering the border raids of Mexican bandit [[Pancho Villa]] as a reporter for the ''[[New York Journal-American|American]]'' newspaper owned by [[William Randolph Hearst]]. He had first met Villa in Texas while covering [[spring training]] of the state's teams. While in Mexico, Runyon visited one afternoon the [[Ciudad Juárez]] [[racetrack]] where Villa was present and placed a bet through a young messenger girl in Villa's entourage. The 14-year-old girl, whose name was Patrice Amati del Grande, erroneously placed Runyon's bet on a different horse that nonetheless won the race.<ref name=life>{{cite book |last1=Breslin|first1=Jimmy  |author-link=Jimmy Breslin |date=January 1, 2001  |title=Damon Runyon: A Life |publisher=[[Ticknor and Fields]]  |isbn= 978-0899199849}}</ref>{{rp|131–34}} She confided to the lucky bettor that she wanted to be a dancer when she grew up and Runyon told her that if, instead, she would attend school, for which he would pay, she could come after her graduation to see him in New York and he would get her a dancing job in the city; Runyon did indeed pay for her enrollment in the local [[convent school]].<ref name=life/>{{rp|135–36}}

In 1925, 19-year-old Grande came to New York City looking for Runyon and found him through the ''American''{{'}}s receptionist. The two became lovers and he found her work at local [[speakeasies]]. In 1928, after the separation between Runyon and Ellen Egan turned into a divorce, Runyon and Grande were married by his friend, city mayor [[Jimmy Walker]].<ref name=weds>{{cite news |date=July 8, 1932 |title=Damon Runyon Weds Patrice del Grande; Mayor Walker Performs Ceremony for Writer and Actress at Home of Ed Frayne|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/07/08/archives/damon-runyon-weds-patrice-del-grande-mayor-walker-performs-cere.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=December 3, 2023}}</ref> His former wife became an [[alcoholic]] and died in 1931 from  a [[heart attack]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=DIL19311110.2.33&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------|title=Mrs Runyon Dead |date=November 9, 1931 |website=[[Daily Illini]]|access-date=December 3, 2023}}</ref> In 1946, some time after Grande began an affair with a younger man, the couple got divorced.<ref name=club/>