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[25], On November 10, 2014, items from Mellon's collection of paintings, jewelry, furniture, and decorative objects were auctioned at Sotheby's in New York for a total of $158.7 million, including Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange) by Rothko, which sold for $36.5 million, and another Rothko that went for $39.9 million. We've received your submission. Raphael, Sandra, Heins, Greg, Tomasi, Lucia Tongiorgi, and Willis, Tony. "She is just shocked.". This could also lead her astray: late in life, hoping to try her hand at politics, she bet on the wrong horse with handsome John Edwards, only to find herself entangled in an unsavory state of affairs. I don't like complicated people." She planted a variety of pear and apple trees around the perimeter of the garden, as well as honey locust and sassafras trees, which she and her landscaping team carefully pruned over decades.. [34] Following his indictment, the judge forbade Edwards to speak with any potential witnesses. These properties were sold in the years preceding her death. Jackie wore hers so often that the press dubbed them Jackie bracelets. But was a paint box filled with rubies, sapphires, and emeralds instead of pigments another Bunny gift? They divorced in 1948. 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. Forger, then at the white- shoe law firm of Milbank, Tweed, eventually worked exclusively for Bunny, who set up an elegant office for him and his staff on West 57th Street in New York City. July 25, 2011, 10:10 AM. Hidden from view is a separate library for her collection of 10,000 volumes on horticulture, a pool house designed by I. M. Pei, and the home that Bunny built 60 years ago. 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. [21], After Jacqueline Kennedy left the White House, Mellon was asked to design landscapes for Kennedy's home in Martha's Vineyard, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, and River Farm, the headquarters of the American Horticultural Society. He was wise, he was clear, he was a very good person. 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. Paul Mellon, a renowned art collector, philanthropist and thoroughbred breeder, died in 1999 at age 91. Lloyd reiterates that John Edwards remains in his grandmother's good graces. A previous auction of Mellon possessions brought in $218.1 million in 2014 for the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation. Billy Baldwin, who saw Bunny at work at Oak Spring, wrote about her affectionately but clearly: You know that she loves every chair, you know that she feels tenderly about every single blossom, and you know that she rips out anything that she doesnt like, not with violence or cruelty but with the simple determination to eliminate it. He pleaded not guilty and is preparing for trial this fall. Instead, they were subtly made to complete a special sense of place. Ill Build a Stairway to Paradise spans the full 103 years of Bunny Mellons life. Mellon, who passed away in 2014 at 103, was famously known for her significantly designed gardens, including her most heralded 1962 creation of the White (Italian, 1667 1720) A quince, an apple, two lemons, and three blue and white cups], ca. 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. Her death was confirmed by Alexander Forger, her personal attorney for the past 40 years, and her grandson Thomas Lloyd. With love and inexpressible gratitude for all the joy and help you have always given me. Mellon was a legend in design and gardening circles who had a low-key style that was eloquent but unpretentious, Huffman said. Jackie Kennedy and Bunny Mellon in Paris together in the 1960s. "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. Mellon also was known for her exquisite taste both in fashion and in decorating. The last standing true American aristocrat.. 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. Sometimes Jackie became Bunnys advisor. Until she neared 100 she practiced pilates daily, which she learned from the master Joseph Pilates in the 1950s. After Gerard B.s death in 1967, they prospected on Nantucket, where Bunny bought two hundred acres of coastal heathland and old pasture with the money her father had left her. ", 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. 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). Yet Bunny Mellon cheerfully carries on. [18][10][19], In 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked Mellon to redesign the White House Rose Garden. ", 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." "I don't know what I've done that has made people so interested in me, more than anyone else." The guest house comes with two separate bedrooms and bathrooms, a kitchen and a laundry room. Jackie August 9, 1979. Ill Build a Stairway to Paradise spans the full 103 years of "It's hard being 100 and blind. A self-taught botanist, Mellon was tapped by her friend Jacqueline Kennedy to design the White House Rose Garden. She liked what he said about the Two Americas,' Huffman said. Bunny tolerated his paramours, even inviting one mistress to join them at their Antigua estate. Joseph Campbell, the 20th-century writer on myth best known for The Hero with a Thousand Faces, saw what he thought might be the dangers of Jackies life after JFKs assassination. She was forced to give up gardening by 2011, although she continued to swim, do Pilates, and give the rare interview. Mellon was the second wife of philanthropist and horse breeder Paul Mellon. I have so much to do.". 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. "That's why I want to do this story now," I reply. Just one week prior to his indictment, in late May 2011, Edwards visited Mellon at her Upperville estate. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Through it all, she remains an enthusiastic defender of the former North Carolina senator. MANHATTAN Listerine heiress and philanthropist Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon has preferred to shun the media spotlight since long before her financial largesse became Mellon believed a ladys name should only appear in the newspaper three times: for her debut, her marriage and her obituary, Huffman said. women hell-bent on making their daughters marriageable. This story has been shared 107,512 times. Mellon comes across as a woman with her faculties fully intact. As Jackie Kennedy's closest confidante, she helped decorate the White House, redesigned the Rose Garden, presided over the floral arrangements for JFK's bier, and remained an intimate to the first lady until Jackie's death. Mellon, a woman whose acquaintances and the press had led him to believe was distant and cold, was in fact warm & funny once he got to know her. He warned her that she should shun celebrity and stick to becoming a myth. ", The centenarian's friends view her tolerant attitude to John Edwards's affair as an outgrowth of her own marital experiences. "[4][31] While investigating Edwards, the Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed Mellon at Oak Spring on two occasions in 2010. She next began to work on the White House's East Garden, but her work was interrupted by Kennedy's assassination. Bunny Mellon has outlived most of her intimates. She had not given an extended interview in more than a quarter century. Rendered a The Mellons gave Jackie a birthday party in 1966, three years after the assassination, at their home in Oyster Harbors. 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. [10][17] A longtime friendship with the Kennedy family was initiated by a 1958 visit to Oak Spring Farms by Jacqueline Kennedy, whom Mellon later advised on fine arts and antiques during the Kennedy White House restoration. She and Paul Mellon supported many philanthropic endeavors, but were also known to indulge. Like Bunny Mellons daughter, I spent much of my life estranged from my mother. Every time he'd go on a debate against Hillary, he'd call and we'd talkI was so surprised when this thing came up." Mellons Oak Spring Garden Library, which houses her collection of rare books, manuscripts, works of art and other pieces relating to her hobbies, is one of the largest repositories of horticultural information and is visited by scholars worldwide. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. Her first book, Coyotes and Town Dogs: Earth First! Calm it down, calm it down.". The aide used the money to pay expenses for Rielle Hunter and his own family, as they lived together during much of Hunter's pregnancy to maintain the charade. Write it nice, friendly, nongossipy. She minded her own life and she felt deeply . During Camelot, Mellon was ever-present at the White House, quietly underwriting Jackie's extravagant entertaining. "I wish I could have 10 minutes in a room with John Edwards to explain that he's doing nothing but tarnish her legacy and really taking advantage of her," says Thomas Lloyd, her grandson, who testified before the grand jury. 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. Repeatedly in her letters over the years, Jackie apologized for the attention that being her friend brought Bunny. Thanks for contacting us. Bunny made her debut in October 1929 and three years later married the socially connected Stacy Lloyd Jr. [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. This story has been shared 209,091 times. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Nobody really notices what I do, she said. Caroline Kennedy, daughter of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, sat beside Mrs. Mellon during the funeral. Mellon eventually gave Edwards more than $6 million, Young said. Courtesy Oak Spring Garden Library. Even though her closets contained racks of magnificent Givenchy and Balenciaga couture, she wanted to be buried wearing the simple college graduation gown that she had worn to receive an honorary degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. John F. Kennedy and Bunny Mellon together on Cape Cod. [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. Trescherwith Bunny in her special role as collaborator/directorhad orchestrated Caroline Kennedys wedding in 1985. Shes a remarkable person, said her friend, interior designer Bryan Huffman of North Carolina. Los Angeles Review of Books 6671 Sunset Blvd., Ste 1521 Los Angeles, CA 90028, GENERAL INQUIRIES [emailprotected]MEMBERSHIP INQUIRIES [emailprotected]EDITORIAL INQUIRIES [emailprotected]PRESS INQUIRIES [emailprotected]ADVERTISING INQUIRIES [emailprotected]PURCHASE INQUIRIES [emailprotected], IN MY CLOSET is a black gabardine raincoat with a mink collar that flips up like Garbos in. Only two years before Jackie won her settlement, Paul Mellon, for the first time and thanks to Forger, had settled an annual $500,000 on Bunny, allegedly for charity, meaning that she no longer had to ask her husband for every cent of his money she spent. As an adult, her fluency with pencil and ink led her to illustrate her letters, underlining the emotions they expressed. In a 2010 interview, she spoke of having purchased a total of thirteen works by Rothko. The estate also holds a boathouse and a garage. The voice on the phone was frail but clear, with a hint of Southern gentility. Mellon sent checks to Huffman inside boxes of chocolate, and Huffman would direct them to the campaign, Young wrote. She turned to her husband, a lifelong Republican, who said he certainly wasnt going to lend her his pen! On Halloween in 1961 the Wildenstein & Co. Manhattan gallery opened a charity exhibition of Schlumbergers jewels, which included some of Bunnys pieces. Her close friendship with Bunny would give her the privacy, affection, and depth of understanding to help bear the weight of that armor. Thats the antithesis of what her style would be, he said. But it inspired me: 'From now on, all haircuts, etc., that are important for his campaign, please send the bills to me. In this impressive portrait of Bunny Mellon, Mac Griswold, who knew the landscape architect and designer personally, makes the argument that Mellon aspired to create an American pastoral for the 20th century, rooted in the promise of prosperity, civic order, and domestic bliss. Letitia Baldrige, Jackie's White House social secretary, recalls, "They were very close. One of the works, No. Huffman introduced Mellon to John Edwards in 2006. Their particular combination of money (Bunnys) and fame (Jackies) made them formidable. Stressing that her sympathies have always been with Edwards rather than his wife, who died last year from cancer, she confides, "You know that John had a hard time with Elizabeth." Her recent collection isWaiting for Charlie: Mercenary Soldiers, Failed States, and the Love That Means More Than Money. MANHATTAN Listerine heiress and philanthropist Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon has preferred to shun the media spotlight since long before her financial largesse became tangled up in the John Edwards mistress scandal. 2023 Cohen Media Publications LLC. We've received your submission. She was eulogized by her friend Frank Langella, who described himself as "a rough Jersey kid" whom Mellon taught "how to listen, dress, never be vulgar, respect all people, be humble, avoid hubris, write thank-you notes, never boast, be curious and 'above all, be loyal'". Bunnys actual reimmersion in politics had come in November 1960 in the presidential election, when she voted as a Virginian for Kennedy, although she apparently didnt change her party affiliation and become a Democrat until she met Richard Nixon in 1972. [4][29] Caroline Kennedy, daughter of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, sat beside Mrs. Mellon during the funeral. B. Eliza spent the remaining eight years of her life under round-the-clock care at Oak Spring Farms, and died in 2008. We talked for hourson nothing and never gossipped [sic]. Lloyd, who was questioned by the grand jury about whether she was coerced, says with a laugh, "You can't tell my grandmother what to do. [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). She specifically designed it for our family dynamic, Lloyd, who grew up spending time at the home told House Beautiful. Indeed. Situated on over 7 acres, it is also known as one of Cape Cods original homes. A donation from Mellon in 1977 helped make the home the headquarters for Project Hope, the worldwide medical outreach organization. Astor Regrets. 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. Her father did not believe that a young woman of her generation was worth sending to college; she would spend eternity proving him wrong. Like her billionaire philanthropist husband, Paul Mellon, and [15], Described as a resilient centenarian, a bout with cancer[35] and ongoing macular degeneration nonetheless slowed her activity. ", Her solace was her gardens, and she took enormous pleasure in designing gardens for herself and friends. In somewhat of a taste of what was to come, Mellon was visited by the FBI as part of a federal grand jury probe into Edwards' handling of campaign funds, and was reportedly thrilled by the experience. [7] Her parents divorced in 1933, and both subsequently remarried. 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. 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. The Rose Garden would go on to become a place where President John F. Kennedy and presidents after him hosted significant events. 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. [4][30]:158, At the request of campaign operative Andrew Young, the commitment morphed to include underwriting Edwards' personal expenses. He claims, "Bunny and I were the last people on earth who knew about the girlfriend and the baby. I don't mind being 100, I can cope with that, but not seeing is very scary." 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. Tiffany & Co.s Pierce McGuire recalled that Mrs. Mellon described how she and Schlumberger had collaborated on the design for his famous paillonn enamel bangle and that she had given Jackie the first one. 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 goes over daily to inquire about construction, a woman caught between present and past. Mellon's second husband, Paul Mellon, died in 1999, aged 91. It is a way to help our friend without government restrictions.'?" I never wore it again. Most distressing is her loss of vision. The guest list entailed flying in many of the D.C. and New York regulars who had danced at Elizas coming-out party; the band played foxtrots from the Great American Songbook before moving on to rock and roll; and the food was deliciousstriped bass, lamb, string beans, salad, peaches. 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 The two women managed to make light of the issues in their own difficult marriages: Pauls relationship with Dorcas Hardin, and JFKs omnivorous promiscuity. 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. . "[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. that & her sense of humor.. Each also found in the other a sister more compatible, loyal, and loving than her own. 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. After Lambert divorced Lloyd, she and Paul Mellon were married on May 1, 1948. She described that trip to a friend, who told me: "Paul and Bunny slept apartShe was very funny about it. She had been raised in a family that believed a woman should not advertise herself, and yet its clear that she wanted some sort of recognition for the importance of her work, especially for the Rose Garden. 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 decided to settle on his wife. While Mellon is leaving bequests to her family, the bulk of her estate will go to a foundation, financing a library and school for arborists. 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 Eventually I will get rid of it, if only because the thought of someone else carting it to a secondhand shop after my own death is too depressing. Mellon, now blind, lives in luxurious seclusion on her 2,000-acre Virginia farm, cosseted by a staff of 120 loyal retainers. But Mellon struck up new life-affirming friendships with much younger, artistic men. [10] By this marriage, she became the stepmother of Timothy Mellon and Catherine Conover Mellon (later Mrs. John Warner and now known as Catherine Conover). Then she adds, "I'm very busy. The two women took to one another at once. "He and I were great friends. These resources reveal how many of her designs were derived from fairy tales. [10][24] The painting measured 10 by 15 feet. 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. NYC's safest neighborhood is this off-the-radar slice of Q Todd Chrisley serving his time in one of America's cushiest prisons, John Leguizamo buys daughter a co-op on same NYC block as family house, Elon Musk auctions off 600 Twitter items at HQ, including $16K bird, Jen Shah posts, deletes cryptic message about the truth after prison sentencing, Kardashians are confused, concerned about Kanye Wests new marriage, Jinger Duggar grew up ruled by fear in cult-like religious family, Kitten born with same 'Zorro' mask as her father, Shakira allegedly discovered Gerard Piqu's cheating because of a jam jar, Carole Baskin claims her dead husband found alive but no one noticed last year. "I have to tell you, my dear, I hate publicity," said Rachel "Bunny" Mellon. 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. Some may find the pacing too leisurely, and the book is at its best when Mellons curious personality comes out in full. 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. Bunny poured her nesting urge into the creation of many perfect houses for Paul and the children. 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 "I don't think she's been gullible." [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. Jackie Kennedy excitedly attends the Princeton Librarys 1989 opening of. Copyright 2009-2018, New York Public Radio. Bunny and Jackie dined at Johnnys small clapboard house on East 92nd Street before heading to the gala, the proceeds of which would support the preservation of Newport, Rhode Islands trove of 18th- and 19th-century architecture. 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. Bunny Mellon, ne Rachel Lowe Lambert, was not just a social figure. 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. She was a poor Bouvier, by the standards of the society in which she moved. 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.. . [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. . She was involved in the business of nature and beauty, design and implementation, Forger said. One day these gems may turn up, but my take is that the fantastical yet practical Bunny might just as likely have given Jackie a solid gold Schlumberger box of real paints. "Bunny gave him validation, after all those ass-kissing socialites who mistreated him. [2][3] Her paternal grandfather, chemist Jordan Lambert, was the inventor of Listerine, which was later marketed by her father. 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. Jackie and Bunny sometimes looked for happiness together on real estate adventures, finding the escape they dreamed of. She designed the guest house specifically for my two older half-sisters.. Mellon lived a closely guarded life dominated by the arts, fashion, horses, rare books and extraordinary gardens. [14], Mellon was a long-time Democrat whose political views often conflicted with those of her husband. When Mellon became aware of the use of her funds for this purpose, she reportedly came to regret the donations, but maintained that Edwards "would have been a great president. "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.