[8] He served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. "I don't know what I've done that has made people so interested in me, more than anyone else." Tales straight out of A Thousand and One Nights, some true, some apocryphal, gathered around the pair and their friendship. In going through her papers in the months after her death, I found that she had wrapped many important keepsakes, such as gifts from her Grandpa Lowe, in white paper and tied them up with a blue ribbon, using the two colors as signals to show how precious the things were to her. A jury later acquitted him on a campaign finance charge and deadlocked on five other felony counts. "[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. She had a son, Stacy Barcroft Lloyd III, and two step-children, Timothy Mellon and Catherine Warner. I never wore it again. Additionally, she added a guest house (referred to as the childrens barn), herb garden, vegetable garden and main formal garden. Bunny had the Pittsburgh Mellons to deal with; Jackie had the football-playing Kennedys and their constant togetherness in Hyannis Port, which she often found trying. Stepping up to the polls with Paul, Bunny said, she found she didnt have anything to write with. The indictment quotes a note from Mellon: "I was sitting alone in a grim mood, furious that the press attacked Senator Edwards on the price of a haircut. [17] Mellon amassed a large collection of horticultural books and was regarded as an authority on American horticulture. that & her sense of humor.. Outspoken: Bunny Mellon (left) is seen here with her stepdaughter Eliza Lloyd in 1964. A 350 year old house, the main property consists of seven bedrooms and five full baths with270 degrees of water views, the listing states. Courtesy Oak Spring Garden Library. However, her best and dearest families were made up of friends who shared her passions and tastes. Bunny Mellon, peerless stylemaker, noted art collector, and philanthropist, lived a life of privilege mixed with sadness, as presented in Meryl Gordons biography, The last standing true American aristocrat.. She designed and planted a number of significant gardens, including the White House Rose Garden, and assembled one of the largest collections of rare horticultural books. [26] Three of her most important paintings, two by Rothko and one by Richard Diebenkorn, were sold privately before the Sotheby's auction for a reported $250 million. Situated on over 7 acres, it is also known as one of Cape Cods original homes. West, chief usher at the White House during the Kennedy administration, watched Jackie at play with her children on the South Lawn and observed that she was so happy, so abandoned, so like a little girl who had never grown up. Billy Baldwin, albeit a shameless gusher about clients he loved, accurately described the same quality in Bunny when he wrote that one of the incredibly rare qualities of this incredibly rare woman is her ability to empathize with anothers enthusiasmsat least with enthusiasms like his own. [17] In France, Mellon created a landscape design for the home of Hubert de Givenchy and assisted with a restoration of the potager du Roi in Versailles. You are a poet like Emily Dickinson in your gardens, in your houses, in the way you see nature and all of life. A giver of parties and designer of landscapes brimming with imagination and magic, she herself tended to the expressionless and forbidding, a society figure with an almost pathological dislike for publicity, who loved coming home from galas to water the plants at night. ", Her birthday plans are uncertain but are likely to mimic last year's modest festivitiesa lunch at the farm for family members plus Caroline Kennedy, Huffman, and Forger. [11][12] The couple bred and raced thoroughbred horses, including Sea Hero, winner of the 1993 Kentucky Derby. Bunny Mellon has outlived most of her intimates. Her first book, Coyotes and Town Dogs: Earth First! Settling in Virginia, they had a circle that included Paul Mellon, the wealthy son of Herbert Hoover's Treasury secretary. She was born into a well-to-do Princeton family. According to the indictment, Huffman signed over the checks to Young. Robert Isabell, the talented New York floral designer who worked on Caroline Kennedy's 1984 wedding, became an integral part of Mellon's life. Sandra Lees Revenge Romance Takes a Twist, Mugrabi Divorce Settled: "She Asked for $100 Million", Gianna Reisen is Transforming the NYCB, One Step at a Time, Kai Thomass Debut Novel is Historical Fiction at its Best, Janet Malcolm Finally Covers the One Subject She Avoided: Herself. Raphael, Sandra, Heins, Greg, Tomasi, Lucia Tongiorgi, and Willis, Tony. But so great a talent could not remain forever hidden and neither will yours. [10] In a 1969 New York Times article with the Mellons, she proclaimed that "nothing should be noticed. Initially blocked from doing so by the National Park Service, Williams secretly removed the trees from the Tidal Basin and transported them to the White House himself. "She called and invited me to lunch.". 20 (Yellow Expanse), completed in 1955 was considered one of the largest Rothko works in private hands. But Mellon struck up new life-affirming friendships with much younger, artistic men. 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.. ", The events of the past five yearsthe death of her daughter, Ken Starr's betrayal, the indictment of Edwardsmight leave less hardy souls reaching for Prozac. In March her longtime investment adviser Ken Starr received a seven-and-a-half-year jail sentence for running a Ponzi scheme and stealing $33 million from clients, including $5.75 million from Mellon and $3 million from her son Stacey Lloyd III. She was loyal beyond anything and we gave each other space. A well-groomed young woman is trailing her, but Mellon seems miraculously able for a 99-year-old. Bunny Mellon breaks her silence on John Edwards, insists they were great friends. If true, its also possible to look at it as just one more example of both Bunnys fierce determination to finish a thing, to make it perfect, and her determination to go the distance for her friend. Edwards aide Andrew Young, who wrote about Mellon and Edwards relationship in his tell-all book The Politician, said Mellon became so distraught when the media attacked Edwards over a $400 haircut that she sent him a letter offering to help. 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. I want to live again. Jackie did neither. "I had a serious operation a little while ago, and ever since then I've been very, very weak," Mellon says. She designed the guest house specifically for my two older half-sisters.. My grandmother began a multi-year renovation of the main house beginning in 1978, Lloyd told House Beautiful. 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. The doyenne of high society is the widow of Paul Mellon, a billionaire art patron and racehorse breeder. 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. Wendy Gimbel, a biographer, critic, and redoubtable interpreter of the meaning of fashion, remarked that the clothes in the 2002 Metropolitan Museums Costume Institute show, Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years, were dowdy. Shes a remarkable person, said her friend, interior designer Bryan Huffman of North Carolina. Mellons family and her longtime personal attorney said she died of natural causes at her beloved 4,000-acre Oak Spring Farms in Virginias horse country, where she entertained royalty, stars and politicians but from which she rarely ventured. The Los Angeles Review of Books is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and disseminating rigorous, incisive, and engaging writing on every aspect of literature, culture, and the arts. [7][36] Her funeral was held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, which the Mellons had gifted to the community in 1960. Her days of pruning in the garden are over, but she still swims and does Pilates. Her social climbing didnt always follow an easy path. She laughs, saying, "Oh, you're bad. [4][14], On March 17, 2014, Mellon died at her Upperville, Virginia, home of natural causes. As far as we know, their intention is to keep it as the historic property it is and has always been, Crocker told the Cape Cod Times. 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. A previous auction of Mellon possessions brought in $218.1 million in 2014 for the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation. Paul Mellon once told The Washington Post, "The thing I envy about Bunny is that from the age of 5 or 6, her whole life has been occupied by horticulture, by one consuming thing." (Italian, 1667 1720) A quince, an apple, two lemons, and three blue and white cups], ca. . [37], "Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon, Banking Heiress And Jacqueline Kennedy Friend, Dies At 103", "Rachel Mellon, Heiress Known for Garden Designs, Is Dead at 103", "Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon, arts patron and confidante of Jackie Kennedy, dies at 103", "Edwards Case Casts Spotlight on a Long Reclusive Donor", "The House in the Virginia Hunt Country That Is Home to the Paul Mellons", "The Private World of a Great Gardener: Rachel Lambert Mellon", "How Bunny Mellon Re-invented the White House Rose Garden", "Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy: A Reminiscence", "President Kennedy's Garden: Rachel Lambert Mellon's Redesign of the White House Rose Garden", "The Money Behind John Edwards: Heiress Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon, Age 100", "Mellon Estate in Antigua Goes on the Market for $14.5 Million", "Bunny Mellon's $250 Million Rothkos Sold in Private Sale", "Property from the Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon: Masterworks", "Sotheby's to auction Paul and Bunny Mellon estate", "Liaison Says Heiress Rued Edwards Donations", "Donor's family testifies in Edwards probe", "John Edwards Meets Privately with Bunny Mellon, Potential Witness in Cover Up Case", "Arts patron, heiress Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon dead", "At Bunny Mellon's funeral, music from Bette Midler and a John Edwards appearance", Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, Inc. website, Wine & Country Life Magazine, "Discover Bunny Mellon's Oak Spring Garden", Wine & Country Life Magazine, "The Allee, Greenhouse and Topiaries at Oak Spring Farm", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rachel_Lambert_Mellon&oldid=1122910202, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Horticulturalist, art collector, philanthropist. The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.Read the press release here. The estate includes a central chimney house with a passageway to where occupants could safely hide, which many assume was during King Phillips war, according to the listing. ", The Edwards episode has baffled and upset Mellon's family. Starr. Daughter of the president of the Gillette Safety Razor Co. and granddaughter of the inventor of Listerine, Rachel (Bunny) Lambert was born into money and groomed for social success. Ill Build a Stairway to Paradise spans the full 103 years of Bunny Mellons life. Only Bunny could have thought of the perfect finale: as dinner finished, Jackies beloved White House chef, Ren Verdon, who had been secretly flown up to cook the birthday feast, appeared like a rabbit pulled out of a hat. Even now she is making improvements. "He's done a very good job of maintaining the sense that 'Bunny, I want to be your friend; Bunny, feel sorry for me in this predicament, we'll get through this together,'" says Lloyd. With only a high school education, she frequently had to play catch-up in the sophisticated circles in which she moved, often cultivating powerful men to achieve her goals. "Bunny gave him validation, after all those ass-kissing socialites who mistreated him. At the time of her death, she had two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Bunny Mellon was passionate about gardening, horses and art, all of which could be enjoyed at the Mellon family property, Oak Spring Farms, a 4000-acre estate, in Upperville, Virginia. Sometimes Jackie became Bunnys advisor. Her grandfather, Jordan W. Lambert, created Listerine. [13], Mellon was long known for her maximal discretion and minimal public exposure; she offered only a handful of interviews to journalists in her lifetime. [4][30]:158, At the request of campaign operative Andrew Young, the commitment morphed to include underwriting Edwards' personal expenses. Although charming, its hardly a match for the other treasures on those walls, but it was painted by Jackie and was therefore another precious reminder of their times together. "I think it's awful." "I'm going along on very weak wheels." "I may not be here a year from now," she tells me. [4] She had a brother and a sister: Gerard Barnes Lambert, Jr. (19121947; married Elsa Cover), who died in a 1947 plane crash,[5][6] and Lily McCarthy (19142006; married twice, to William Wilson Fleming and John Gilman McCarthy, respectively). I don't mind being 100, I can cope with that, but not seeing is very scary." ", Bunny Mellon's health has deteriorated due to a bad fall, a bout with cancer, and the onset of macular degeneration. [10][22], Mellon gathered a sizable collection of works by artist Mark Rothko, having purchased many of his 1950s works directly from his New York studio. No better armor than a watchful friend: Bunny Mellon quietly walks with Jackie Kennedy from Martin Luther King, Jr.s funeral at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, 1968. [22], She maintained homes in Antigua, Nantucket and Oyster Harbors, Cape Cod, two apartments in Paris, and a townhouse in New York City. According to the criminal complaint, Starr siphoned at least $5.75 million from Oak Spring Farms LLC to his own personal account to pay for a $7.5 million Upper East Side apartment between April 13 - April 16. She specifically designed it for our family dynamic, Lloyd, who grew up spending time at the home told House Beautiful. Mellon's lawyer Alex Forger elaborates further on his client's attitude: "She was not enamored of his wife and didn't want his wife to know that he was getting money. When Jackie Kennedy decided to revive the grounds surrounding the White House, she reached out to her friend and horticulturalist Rachel Bunny Mellon to carry out the redesign. Mellon's family and her longtime personal attorney said she died of natural causes at her beloved 4,000-acre Oak Spring Farms in Virginia's horse country, where she [19][20] Mellon completed her work on the garden in close collaboration with Irvin Williams who, among other responsibilities, she tasked with finding and introducing magnolia trees to the garden. For Bunnys 69th, Jackie gave her an illustrated edition of Emily Dickinsons poems. It is a way to help our friend without government restrictions. 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. She also said that she ran interference with the Kennedys regarding Onassis before Jackies 1968 marriage to him. Hers is a regime of no tolerance for the mediocre. She had little patience for those she considered superficial or boring and chose her friends carefully. Jane Stanton Hitchcock says, "Jackie told me that she thought Bunny was a visual genius." 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. [31] During this period Mellon wrote a note to Young stating: "from now on, all haircuts, etc. and the Environmental Movement, is required reading at a number of universities. women hell-bent on making their daughters marriageable. 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. In 1932, she married Stacy Barcroft Lloyd Jr., a businessman and horse breeder. 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. Bunny Mellon, in her Oak Spring Garden Library. She next began to work on the White House's East Garden, but her work was interrupted by Kennedy's assassination. This story has been shared 209,091 times. She is famously camera-shy and keeps a residence in the Jumeirah Essex House on Central Park South and an estate in Upperville Virginia, where she reportedly became fond of then-first-time presidential candidate John Edwards in 2006. As the second wife of financier Paul Mellon, she helped him amass a renowned art collection, hundreds of works ranging from Czannes to Rothkos, either donated to the National Gallery in Washington or still hanging on her walls. Through it all, she never sought publicity. Every item on this page was chosen by a townandcountrymag editor. Thanks for contacting us. [4][29] Caroline Kennedy, daughter of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, sat beside Mrs. Mellon during the funeral. Mellon was a legend in design and gardening circles who had a low-key style that was eloquent but unpretentious, Huffman said. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Travel + Leisure. . "I don't think she's been gullible." They divorced in 1948. [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. The Fall of Feminism: Jessa Crispins Why I Am Not A Feminist. 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. Shes not sitting around in velvet covered gold chairs. She minded her own life and she felt deeply . Her appetite for prestige, although ever discreet, only increased with her second marriage, to Mellon, in 1948. What extravagance, breathed Jackie, or so the story goes. At the age of 95, however, Bunnys secret support for John Edwardss mistress and child would bring her a certain notorietyand a visit from the FBI that she would quite enjoy. When in 1968 Eliza married Viscount Henry Dermot Ponsonby Moore, better known as the photographer Derry Moore, Bunny would draft Jackies children, Caroline and John, then 11 and eight, as flower girl and page boy (in knee breeches, British court style for little boys). She's going to do what she wants, and that's the way it's going to be.". She had political and social power but not financial power. Although Jackies friendship with Bunny ran deeper than access to Mellon money, once Jackie was no longer in the White House, she became aware of the ease that assets like Bunnys offeredsuch as the peace and privacy of the Mellons house on Antigua, where they retreated in the first traumatic days of January 1964. I have so much to do.". 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. "It's a crush." Mellon also was known for her exquisite taste both in fashion and in decorating.
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