"If you are 100 years old, you get to like who you like," says gardening writer Mac Griswold, Mellon's friend for a half century. With love and inexpressible gratitude for all the joy and help you have always given me. She found both in Aristotle Onassis. Mellon died of natural causes at her 4,000-acre estate in Upperville, Va., her lawyer told The New York Times. [11] Her work was strongly influenced by French gardeners Andr Le Ntre and Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie. In Jackies case, it was her main article of faith that a womans job was to raise the children, and if she made a mess of it, the rest of what she did amounted to nothing. She'd long since given up being upset. Like Bunny Mellons daughter, I spent much of my life estranged from my mother. The estate formerly belonged to Mellons grandsonThomas Lloyd, who made the decision to sell the home. Huffman said his friend remained in good spirits despite the Edwards distraction. . In turn, after 1979, when Jackie bought Red Gate Farm on over three hundred acres on Marthas Vineyard, Bunny cleaned up and edited the straggling old farm-scape without overmanaging it and guided Jackie to the well-known architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen, who designed a plain, cedar-shingled Cape Cod house. However, her best and dearest families were made up of friends who shared her passions and tastes. .css-1du65oy{color:#323232;display:block;font-family:NewParis,Georgia,Times,serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0.3125rem;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;-webkit-font-smoothing:auto;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-1du65oy:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-1du65oy{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1du65oy{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1du65oy{font-size:1.3125rem;line-height:1.2;}}Jackie Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth's Relationship, Julianne Moore's Kennedy-Inspired Met Gala Gown, See a Vintage Photo of Jackie and the Queen, Lee Radziwill's Doomed Dreams of Movie Stardom, JFK & Jackie Kennedy's Wedding Day, in Photos, Meet Jackie Kennedy's Unexpected Honeymoon Guest, Inside The Home Where Jackie O First Rode Horses, Jackie Kennedy's Role in Barbra Streisand's Memoir, Jackie Kennedy's Visit to the Nixon White House. Given Paul and Bunnys emerging stature in philanthropy and the arts, and Jackies celebrity, when Bunny and Jackie joined forces for a cause, they invariably succeeded. Bunny said that Jackie was always telling me what to dolike a nanny& I didnt always listenShe would sayall your ducks are swansyou should not believe some people!, In 1995, George Trescher, New Yorks top event planner, sent a note to Bunny along with a clipping from his interview with W magazine. Thanks for contacting us. Then she adds, "I'm very busy. [27], Mellon's second husband, Paul Mellon, died in 1999, aged 91. Shes not sitting around in velvet covered gold chairs. Mellons attorney said she had no idea the money was going to hide a mistress. The Strange Promise of a Genuine Squirrel Coat. Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon, who died at age 103 on March 17 of this year, was renowned as a style icon, an influential garden designer (she helped plan the White I don't like complicated people." She was a poor Bouvier, by the standards of the society in which she moved. Copyright 2009-2018, New York Public Radio. Bunny Mellon, peerless stylemaker, noted art collector, and philanthropist, lived a life of privilege mixed with sadness, as presented in Meryl Gordons biography, Every choice of a color was eloquent. "It was just terrible because I trusted him, and we're in sort of a hole because of that, and it hasn't been returned," admits Mellon, who is in danger of losing another $6 million in investments made by Starr that are now underwater. In a 2010 interview, she spoke of having purchased a total of thirteen works by Rothko. As society bandleader Peter Duchin says, "Bunny is a person with wonderful taste. "I'm going along on very weak wheels." She wanted visitors to her own gardens and the gardens she designed for others to feel transported to another world. She quickly divorced her husband, and in May 1948 she and Mellon wed. Eliza spent the remaining eight years of her life under round-the-clock care at Oak Spring Farms, and died in 2008. WARRENTON, Va. Rachel "Bunny" Mellon left a small island to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, a library to an unspecified charity, jewelry to a former first daughter, and $20 million in cash along with artwork and real estate to Stacy B. Lloyd III, her son by her first marriage. But Mellon struck up new life-affirming friendships with much younger, artistic men. Her wardrobe was created by Spanish designer Cristbal Balenciaga until he retired, at which time French designer Hubert de Givenchy took over fashioning everything she wore, according to a 2010 Vanity Fair article. A family thats been in the area for a couple of generations purchased the property. She was forced to give up gardening by 2011, although she continued to swim, do Pilates, and give the rare interview. she told a friend after the visit from the feds, Daily Beast reported. She was 103 years old. Then her daughter was fatally hit in a car accident, and she threw herself even deeper into her career. "I may not be here a year from now," she tells me. Bunny was a society figure with an almost pathological dislike for publicity, a trait she shared with her husband. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Lisa Marie Presley was never the same after sons suicide in new home, James Cordens abandoned mansion heads a step closer to demolition, Hugh Jackman puts his dream minimalist Hamptons home up for rent, Barbara Walters daughter sold her Fla. getaway after dementia diagnosis. When Jackie left her straw hat on Nantucket after one of their lunches, Bunny sent the plane straight back from Cape Cod to fetch it. [11][12] The couple bred and raced thoroughbred horses, including Sea Hero, winner of the 1993 Kentucky Derby. [10] In a 1969 New York Times article with the Mellons, she proclaimed that "nothing should be noticed. [2][3] Her paternal grandfather, chemist Jordan Lambert, was the inventor of Listerine, which was later marketed by her father. [14], Mellon was a long-time Democrat whose political views often conflicted with those of her husband. UPDATE: Netscape billionaire Jim Clark and his Australian model wife Kristy Hinze have bought Bunny Mellons New York townhouse for $37 million Curbed has the goss. After JFKs death and the subsequent assassination of Robert Kennedy, Jackie needed protection beyond what the Secret Service could provide for her and her young children, and she also needed a well-financed husband to support her in style. Settling in Virginia, they had a circle that included Paul Mellon, the wealthy son of Herbert Hoover's Treasury secretary. They would talk about flowers for hours, mesmerized by one another's company. Her appetite for prestige, although ever discreet, only increased with her second marriage, to Mellon, in 1948. "I don't know what I've done that has made people so interested in me, more than anyone else." When she was around 5 years old, her father let her have a little garden at home, planting the seed for her lifelong love of horticulture, he said. According to Bunny, Jackie said coolly, Absolutely not. Lowell then said, Well, what are you going to do? Jackie answered him by saying, Well, weve got it all planned, and that was that.. They reportedly had homes in Antigua, Paris, New York, Washington, Nantucket and Cape Cod, and a mile-long runway for their private jet. [7][36] Her funeral was held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, which the Mellons had gifted to the community in 1960. Two women sitting close together overlooking Gloucester Harbor while one sketches and the other looks on admiringly became Jackie and I on the Dock. Or, to say it more simply, Bunny enjoyed the thought of their friendship when she looked at the painting. The two women managed to make light of the issues in their own difficult marriages: Pauls relationship with Dorcas Hardin, and JFKs omnivorous promiscuity. The True Story of Jackie & Bunny's Friendship, Randall Hagadorn / Courtesy of Gerard B. Lambert III, Mark Shaw Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images, Jackie Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth's Relationship, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Jackie and Bunny sometimes looked for happiness together on real estate adventures, finding the escape they dreamed of. [28] Shortly thereafter, in May 2000, her daughter Eliza was hit by a truck while crossing a Manhattan street, causing a severe brain injury and full-body paralysis. "It's been like falling down the rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland," says Huffman, who rues introducing the heiress to the senator. Her father, Gerald Lambert, built a company that made everything from Dentyne to Schick razors before it was sold to Pfizer for $110 billion in 2000. . In October 1946, as the Mellons were riding home together after fox hunting, Paul's wife, Mary, suffered a severe asthma attack, dying hours later. Her grandson, Stacy Lloyd IV, remembered Mellon as "Granbunny" and how she taught him to find beauty in everything. Yet when Sam Kasten of Nantucket Looms, a company that wove custom fabrics for her, wrote her that his visit to the Garden Library at Oak Spring was a life-changing event, she called him in tears. "That's why I want to do this story now," I reply. With Jackie in the White House, Bunny was again happily engaged with the glamour of politics, something shed once enjoyed while sitting on Calvin Coolidges lap as a child. She contributed more than $3.5 million to Edwards's issues organization and to PACs supporting his candidacy. Like her billionaire philanthropist husband, Paul Mellon, and "[14] Although this remark was made in reference to garden design, it has frequently been taken to encapsulate her attitude toward personal privacy and lifestyle choices. Zenas Crocker of Robet Paul Properties held the listing. Mac Griswold says, "I think her view is that he's a cute guy and he's allowed to fool around if he likes. We've received your submission. "It's hard being 100 and blind. Rachel "Bunny" Lambert Mellon 29, one of Foxcrofts oldest and most illustrious alumnae, died Monday (March 17) at her home in Fauquier County, VA. She Rendered a paraplegic and unable to speak, Eliza was transported to her mother's farm for round-the-clock care, surviving for eight years. One of her grandfathers, chemist Jordan Lambert, invented Listerine, but it was her father, Gerard Lambert, an advertising innovator, who turned it into a hit product by marketing the antiseptic as a cure for halitosis. Jackie honored her friends creative achievementssomething that Bunny welcomed. But there was more to the story: her gardens were an escape. MANHATTAN Listerine heiress and philanthropist Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon has preferred to shun the media spotlight since long before her financial largesse became She has always cared greatly beyond herself., Her grandson, Lloyd, said, I think she was trying to help (Edwards) for the right reasons, believed in him, and I think frankly he just took advantage of a lot of opportunities that she gave him.. Between all buildings are eight separate fireplaces. All rights reserved. Sally Bedell Smith quotes Jackie as telling a journalist right after the election that she would describe Jack as rather like me in that his life is an iceberg. The Fall of Feminism: Jessa Crispins Why I Am Not A Feminist. [4][23] Her main residence, Oak Spring Farms, was a 4,000-acre (1,600ha) estate in Virginia, that had its own 1-mile (1,600m) long airstrip to accommodate her Falcon 2000. In particular, feds were interested in the $700,000 in funds Mellon allegedly made out to Edwards' campaign in the form of blank checks annotated "furniture," the Daily Beast said. Both women shared a profound belief in the absolute ability of style to carry real meaning. After Lambert divorced Lloyd, she and Paul Mellon were married on May 1, 1948. Ted Kennedy with Bunny Mellon in Cambridge, Mass. Mellon's second husband, Paul Mellon, died in 1999, aged 91. [22], She maintained homes in Antigua, Nantucket and Oyster Harbors, Cape Cod, two apartments in Paris, and a townhouse in New York City. She reportedly told friends the senator reminded her of John F. Kennedy, whose wife Jackie O. was a close friend, the Daily Beast reported. Mellon believed a ladys name should only appear in the newspaper three times: for her debut, her marriage and her obituary, Huffman said. The estate on the private islandof Oyster Harbors overlooksNantucket Sound and Marthas Vineyard. In May 2000, Bunny's daughter from her first marriage, Eliza Lloyd, was crossing the street in Manhattan when she was hit by a truck, suffering a severe brain injury. Rendered a paraplegic and unable to speak, Eliza was transported to her mother's farm for round-the-clock care, surviving for eight years. This could have made for a grim existence. Jackie Kennedy and Bunny Mellon in Paris together in the 1960s. Rendered a He said Mellon wrote in her letter, from now on, all haircuts, etc. My grandmother began a multi-year renovation of the main house beginning in 1978, Lloyd told House Beautiful. In her patrician voice she adds, "I'll have to put my trust in you and God. The guest house comes with two separate bedrooms and bathrooms, a kitchen and a laundry room. She classed her deception as fun, and with a Why not? air she dismissed Edwardss infidelity to a dying wife as the sort of thing one might expect from an attractive man like him. After spending most of her life trying to avoid the spotlight, she was thrust into it when Edwards was indicted in 2011 for using what prosecutors alleged was campaign money, including $750,000 from Mellon, to hide mistress Rielle Hunter and their child during Edwards 2008 Democratic presidential bid. And what a past it was. From left: AP (2); Jonathan Torgovnik / Getty Images for Newsweek, Gutting IRS Will Help Wealthy Avoid More Taxes | Opinion, Eliminating Income Tax Means More Money for Americans | Opinion. UPPERVILLE, Va. Rachel Bunny Mellon, a wealthy arts and fashion patron, friend of first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and political benefactor who funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to former presidential candidate John Edwards that was used to hide his mistress, died Monday. Mellon described in the 37-page federal criminal indictment as "Client 5, an elderly heiress" nearing her 100s "had not the slightest inkling" that anything was wrong with her investments with Starr, who had been a friend and financial advisor for three decades, her lawyer said. [10] In 2004, she expressed interest in presidential candidate John Edwards because he reminded her of President Kennedy, but when she called his campaign office with an offer to help, her name was not recognized and the call went unreturned. [17] Mellon amassed a large collection of horticultural books and was regarded as an authority on American horticulture. Their particular combination of money (Bunnys) and fame (Jackies) made them formidable. and the Environmental Movement, is required reading at a number of universities. Her grandfather, Jordan W. Lambert, created Listerine. Outspoken: Bunny Mellon (left) is seen here with her stepdaughter Eliza Lloyd in 1964. On Halloween in 1961 the Wildenstein & Co. Manhattan gallery opened a charity exhibition of Schlumbergers jewels, which included some of Bunnys pieces. Although she grew up in a world where horses were thoroughbreds, society was glittering, and marriage was eventually to Paul Mellon, as fellow decorator Bunny Williams put it, she was no Brooke Astor, entertaining twenty-four for dinner three nights a week, but, rather, a sculptor, sculpting space She created an American vision of English country house style.. Forever blonde, tall, and slender, she greets visitors in cotton shirts or cashmere twin sets, accented with pearls and Schlumberger bracelets. Her close friendship with Bunny would give her the privacy, affection, and depth of understanding to help bear the weight of that armor. JFK had just published Profiles in Courage, a volume of studies of senatorial political bravery that had won the 1957 Pulitzer Prize and would help him in his run for the presidency.They met in 1958 when Adele Astaire Douglass, an old friend of Bunny and Pauls and then a Virginia neighbor, brought her guest Jackie to Oak Spring for tea not long after the birth of her daughter, Caroline. Huffman introduced Mellon to John Edwards in 2006. He gave her a life of infinite luxuryThe Washington Post once pronounced Bunny the "Most Envied Hostess in the Country Today"but at a cost. After his death in 1975, it was probably no accident that Jackie turned to Bunnys lawyer, Alexander Forger, to secure $200 million, far more than Onassis had Gordon, a veteran journalist, is the author ofMrs. ", Mellon and her late husband Paul recommended Starr to friends, and she is mortified that they have suffered, saying, "The worse thing is the people he stole money from." Most of her modern-art collection will be sold, along with three quarters of the acreage of the farm. Jackie found a parent who suited her better than her own mother, the socialite Janet Lee Bouvier Auchincloss, while Bunny gained a daughter very different from Eliza. "[4][31] While investigating Edwards, the Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed Mellon at Oak Spring on two occasions in 2010. After nearly four months on the market for the listing price of $19.8 million the Osterville, Massachusetts, estate, whichincluded some of the last gardens designed by Mellon, found a buyer. Copyright 2022 by Mac Griswold. Mac Griswold is the author of The Manor: Three Centuries at a Slave Plantation on Long Island, Washington's Gardens at Mount Vernon, and The Golden Age of American Gardens. Jackie Onassis, 19 years her junior, died in 1994; Paul Mellon died five years later after a lingering illness. She believed deeply in what he was saying.. Tales straight out of A Thousand and One Nights, some true, some apocryphal, gathered around the pair and their friendship. She is building what she calls a "memory house," a building that will feature artwork by her daughter, Eliza, who died in 2008, as well as photographs and objects from a lifetime of gracious living. Late heiress Rachel Bunny Mellon s Antigua property is up for sale for $25 million, making it one of the most expensive pieces of land in the Caribbean. [18][10][19], In 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked Mellon to redesign the White House Rose Garden. Beginning in May 2007, Mellon contributed more than $725,000 to John Edwards' personal accounts over an eight-month period, writing checks disguised as furniture purchases. For Jackie, too, white was the most ceremonial color; her strapless inaugural ball gown was white, with a small white ribbon cockade at the waisthomage to the France she loved. "[32] The funds were secretly used to support Rielle Hunter, a campaign videographer with whom Edwards had an extra-marital affair and child. She says she was drawn to him by "his very deep intelligence. All-Star and perfect game pitcher dead at 62 UPPERVILLE, Va. Rachel Bunny Mellon, a wealthy arts and fashion patron, friend of first lady Jacqueline Kennedy . After prosecutors learned that Edwards had visited Mellon on May 26even as his lawyers were conducting unsuccessful plea-bargain negotiations prior to the indictmenthe was banned from contacting his benefactor. She's a classic, the epitome of a society that is no longer with us.". We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. She is without the trappings someone would associate with an heiress.. Paul Mellon, a renowned art collector, philanthropist and thoroughbred breeder, died in 1999 at age 91. She soon began to support him with an increasing number of campaign contributions. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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Every item on this page was chosen by a townandcountrymag editor. It's sad that he didn't. Ill Build a Stairway to Paradise spans the full 103 years of Bunny Mellons life. Jackie did neither. [4][30]:158, At the request of campaign operative Andrew Young, the commitment morphed to include underwriting Edwards' personal expenses. Jackie Kennedy and Bunny Mellon, whose friendship is explored in Mac Griswolds new book. The public life is above water& the private lifeis submergedI flatter myself that I have made his private life something he can love & find peace incomfortable smoothly run houseswith all the things he loves in thempictures, books, good food, friends& his daughter & wife geared to adapt to his hours when he comes home. Bunny gave Jackie confidence in her chosen role, helped her enhance the presidents home even more, and provided her a friendship like no other. She designed the guest house specifically for my two older half-sisters.. On November 25, 1932, Lambert married Stacy Barcroft Lloyd Jr. of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, at Trinity Church, Princeton. Rachel Lowe Lambert, nicknamed Bunny by her mother, was the eldest child of Gerard Barnes Lambert, president of the Gillette Safety Razor Company and a founder of WarnerLambert, and his wife, Rachel Parkhill Lowe.
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