Rachel Lambert Mellon

Rachel Lambert Mellon
Born	August 9, 1910 (1910-08-09)
Residence	Upperville, Virginia, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Horticulturalist, arts patron
Known for	Redesigned White House Rose Garden
Spouse	Stacy Barcroft Lloyd Jr (1932-1946) Paul Mellon (1948-1999)
Parents	Gerard Barnes Lambert, Sr. and Rachel Lowe Lambert

Rachel "Bunny" Lowe Lambert Lloyd Mellon (born August 9, 1910) is an American horticulturalist, gardener, philanthropist, fine arts collector, member of the International Best Dressed List and widow of philanthropist, art collector, thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder and banking heir Paul Mellon.

Background

Known as Bunny, she is the eldest child of Gerard Barnes Lambert, Sr, a president of Gillette Safety Razor Co. and a founder of Warner-Lambert (Warner-Lambert is now part of Pfizer, following a 2000 merger). Her mother was the former Rachel Lowe. She had two siblings: Gerard Barnes Lambert Jr (1912–1947; married Elsa Cover, former wife of Angus D Mackintosh) and Lily Cary Lambert (1914–2006; married William Wilson Fleming and John Gilman McCarthy).

Her parents divorced in 1933, and in 1934 her mother re-married her former brother-in-law, Dr Malvern Bryan Clopton, the widower of Gerard Lambert Sr's sister, Lily Lambert Walker. In 1936 Gerard Lambert Sr also was re-married, to Grace Cleveland Lansing Mull, the former wife of John B Mull and a daughter of Henry Livingston Lansing.

Forbes Magazine has been unable to put any sort of definitive number on Mellon’s net worth since much of her fortune is tied up in trusts, but it is apparent that she is both extraordinarily wealthy and very private. In 2011 it was revealed that she had lost $5.75M to investor Ken Starr; her attorney, Alex Forger, said "She's well off, but assets are not liquid." She maintains homes in Antigua, Nantucket and Cape Cod, but two apartments in Paris and a townhouse in New York City were recently sold. Her main residence Oak Spring Farm, a 4,000-acre estate in Virginia, has its own mile long airstrip for her Falcon 2000 She amassed an extraordinary collection of works by artist Mark Rothko, having purchased many of his 1950s works directly from his New York studio. One of the works, Yellow Expanse is considered one of the greatest works that remains in private hands.

Mellon has long been known for her maximum discretion and minimum exposure. In a rare 1969 New York Times article, she proclaimed that "nothing should be noticed".

Marriages

Rachel Lowe Lambert married Stacy Barcroft Lloyd Jr., a former captain in the Office of Strategic Services, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1932. They divorced in 1948. They had two children:

• Stacy Barcroft Lloyd, III
• Eliza Winn Lloyd (died May 7, 2008; married and divorced Viscount Moore). In May 2000, Eliza, was hit by a truck while crossing a Manhattan street and suffering a severe brain injury. She became paraplegic and unable to speak. She spent the remaining eight years of her life under round the clock care at Oak Spring Farms

Lambert and Lloyd became close friends of banking heir and art collector Paul Mellon and his first wife, Mary Conover, who died of an asthma attack in 1946. After she divorced Lloyd, Paul and Bunny were married on May 1, 1948. By this marriage, she had two stepchildren, Timothy Mellon and Catherine Conover Mellon (later Mrs John Warner and now known as Catherine Conover). Together the couple collected and donated more than 1,000 works of art, mostly eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European paintings, to the National Gallery of Art. The couple also bred and raced thoroughbred horses, including a winner of the Kentucky Derby.

In his autobiography, Reflections in a Silver Spoon, Paul wrote movingly of the warmth his wife brought to Oak Spring Farms. The couple decided to move out of the property’s stately Brick House, designed in 1941 by William Adams Delano, whose neo-Georgian mansions were much favored by Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and other plutocrats of that era. They commissioned New York architect H. Page Cross to design Little Oak Spring, the much cozier farmhouse, completed in 1955, where Mellon still lives.

Gardening career

Mellon was a longtime friend of John and Jacqueline Kennedy, advising Mrs. Kennedy first on fine arts and antiques during the Kennedy White House restoration and then contributing to the design of the grounds of the president's house. In 1961 on Mrs. Kennedy's request Mellon redesigned the White House Rose Garden creating a more open space for public ceremony and introducing American species of plants including Magnolia × soulangeana. She next began to work on the White House's East Garden, but was unable to complete it before the assassination of President Kennedy. First Lady Lady Bird Johnson asked Mellon to complete work on the East Garden and in 1965 it was dedicated as the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden.

Later years and support for John Edwards

Her daughter, Eliza, was hit by a car and became a quadriplegic not long after the death of her husband, Paul, in 1999. Eliza died in 2008. Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of friend Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, sat beside her during her daughter's funeral.

Mellon expressed interest in the John Edwards campaign as early as 2004, because he reminded her of President Kennedy, but when she called his campaign office with an offer to help, no one recognized her name and wasn’t called back. That changed when Edwards sought the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. In August 2008, John Edwards' campaign finance chairman Fred Baron told NBC News that he had been providing financial assistance to both Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young without Edwards' knowledge. He further stated that no campaign funds were used. Mellon began giving John Edwards through decorator Brian Hoffman, more than $725,000 for an 8 month period beginning in May 2007. The check falsely referred to as “chairs,” “antique Charleston table” and “bookcase.” During this period Mellon wrote a note to Andrew Young saying: “I was sitting alone in a grim mood — furious that the press attacked Senator Edwards on the price of a haircut. But it inspired me — from now on, all haircuts, etc. that are necessary and important for his campaign — please send the bills to me... It is a way to help our friend without government restrictions.” The funds were believe to be used to secretly support Rielle Hunter, with whom Edwards had an extra-marital affair and child. The FBI interviewed Mellon at her Upperville, VA estate on two occasions in 2010. Then in early December of that same year, her son, Stacy Lloyd III, grandsons, Stacy Lloyd IV and Thomas Lloyd, along with grandson Thomas Lloyd's wife, Ricki Lloyd, appeared before a grand jury in Raleigh, NC. On June 3, 2011, Edwards was indicted on using campaign funds to help cover-up an affair and pregnancy during the 2008 presidential campaign. Mellon was widely believed to be 'Person C' described in the indictment. Just one week prior to his indictment in late May 2011, Edwards visited Mellon at her Upperville, VA estate. Following his indictment, the judge forbade Edwards to speak with any potential witnesses. People close to Mellon said that the money was a personal gift and that she had no idea how Mr. Edwards used it.

Although described as strong and resilient, her health has deteriorated due to a bad fall and a bout with cancer. She no longer spends her days gardening. Forever blonde, tall, and slender, she greets visitors in cotton shirts or cashmere twin sets, accented with pearls and Schlumberger bracelets. “I had a serious operation a little while ago, and ever since then I’ve been very, very weak,” Mellon says. “I’m going along on very weak wheels.” Most distressing is her loss of vision, as a result of macular degeneration. “It’s hard being 100 and blind. I don’t mind being 100, I can cope with that, but not seeing is very scary.” but goes on to say, “I’m very busy. I can’t write, but I dictate, I talk to people. I have so much to do.” She still swims and does Pilates, which she learned from the exercise's inventor Joseph Pilates more than 50 years ago.

References

• Abbott James A., and Elaine M. Rice. Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration. Van Nostrand Reinhold: 1998. ISBN 0-442-02532-7.
• Garrett, Wendell. Our Changing White House. Northeastern University Press: 1995. ISBN 1-55553-222-5.
• McEwan, Barbara. White House Landscapes. Walker and Company: 1992. ISBN 0-8027-1192-8.
• Mellon, Rachel Lambert. The White House Gardens Concepts and Design of the Rose Garden. Great American Editions Ltd.: 1973.
• Seale, William. The White House Garden. White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society: 1996. ISBN 0-912308-69-9.

External links

• National Gallery of Art: Paul Mellon Remembered
• Paul and Bunny Mellon at The National Sporting Library
• Paul and Rachel Lambert Mellon at the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
• David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life, Knopf, 2006, ISBN 0-679-45032-7
• Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, Inc. - History
• Grandson Thomas Lloyd's marriage notice.
• Step-mother Grace Lansing Lambert obituary