rebekah harkness wedding

[21], Harkness died of stomach cancer in her Manhattan home on June 17, 1982. A philanthropist, Harkness supported the Joffery Ballet for years, as well as the Harkness Ballet Foundation and the William Hale Harkness Foundation. [17], In 1961, Harkness married Ben Kean (c. 1912–1993),[18] a physician who was a professor of Tropical Medicine at the Cornell Medical College. The Robert Joffrey Company summer workshop at Rebekah Harkness' Watch Hill estate in Rhode Island, July 1962. After her husband's death in 1954, Harkness embarked on her own creative endeavors. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Here, we … [10][11], Later in life, she studied in Fontainebleau, France, with Nadia Boulanger, at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva, and the Mannes College of Music, New York. Harkness' passions for dance and music followed her into adulthood. Rebekah Harkness, who also went by Betty, was the previous owner of Taylor Swift's Rhode Island home and serves as the inspiration for the third track on her latest album The mansion was once owned by Rebekah Harkness, a high profile socialite who famously married into the Standard Oil fortune. [4], On October 1, 1947, Harkness married William Hale Harkness (1900–1954), the son of William Lamon Harkness, both Standard Oil heirs. She even hosted a ballet workshop there for 20 dancers from the Robert Joffrey Company (now known as the Joffrey Ballet) in 1965. A philanthropist. Reportedly, the rest of her remains were placed in a Gristedes bag. She was born Rebekah Semple West in 1915 to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri. She was brought up by a nanny who was chosen because she had worked in … On October 1, 1947, Harkness married William Hale Harkness (1900–1954), the son of William Lamon Harkness, both Standard Oil heirs. Yet it’s also impossible to avoid drawing parallels between Swift and Harkness. They picked out a home and called it "Holiday House" Their parties were tasteful, if a little loud. The caption read: “A young woman with a surprising range of interests, Mrs. Harkness is a sculptor, a musician of professional standing (she’s a member of ASCAP), a skier (she’ll soon off to her chalet in Gstaad with her three children for a holiday), and an active supporter of many charities.” Below her in the spread? Scevers had a disdain for Harkness's family, and was one of the last people to speak with Harkness alive. The couple had a private ceremony attended by Rebekah's parents, her children Allen and Terry, along with William's daughter with his ex-wife Elizabeth. In December 1956, she even appeared in the pages of Vogue. Harkness was friends with a young Potter Stewart, whom she affectionately called "Potsie," and their relationship was written about by her biographer Craig Unger. [6] When the Joffrey Ballet refused to rename their company in Harkness' honor, she withdrew funding and hired most of the Joffrey dancers to her new company, the Harkness Ballet. The Harknesses were married for a brief period—just seven years. [3] [4], On June 10, 1939, Harkness married Dickson W. Pierce, the son of Thomas M. Pierce and a descendant of Franklin Pierce. The couple married in 1947 and purchased the seaside Rhode Island home that Taylor now owns and named it ‘Holiday House.’. Rebekah Harkness married the heir to the Standard Oil fortune. In her day, Harkness was as much of a media darling as Swift is now, and often the target of unfavorable headlines and press coverage. In the first verse of “The Last Great American Dynasty,” Swift sings that the ceremony “was charming, if a little gauche / There’s only so far new money goes.”. Harkness supported medical research on Parkinson's disease. Anne married Anthony McBride in 1966[1] and had a severely brain-damaged baby who died at age 10. Source for information on Harkness, Rebekah (1915–1982): Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia dictionary. A New York Times the article describes Harkness’s unusual upbringing. Edward Stephen Harkness (January 22, 1874 – January 29, 1940) was an American philanthropist.Given privately and through his family's Commonwealth Fund, Harkness' gifts to private hospitals, art museums, and educational institutions in the Northeastern United States were among the largest of the early twentieth century. Thomson Asks States to Sue the U.S.", "Out of Prison, Doctor Hopes to Regenerate His Lost Fame", "Taylor Swift is buying into a rich Watch Hill tradition", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rebekah_Harkness&oldid=995193859, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 19 December 2020, at 19:08. [15] They divorced in 1965. [2][4] During her final days, Harkness began to reconcile with her children. [12], Following the death of her second husband, William Hale Harkness, Rebekah inherited his fortune. Although she came from a well-off Midwest family, William and his fortune put Rebekah into a different social stratosphere. An artist (a descriptor she bestowed upon herself). The subject of “Folklore” song “The Last Great American Dynasty,” Harkness — née Rebekah Semple West — was born in 1915 to “a rich, emotionally frigid … Now she has one more posthumous title: muse. [5] Through the Rebekah Harkness Foundation, Harkness sponsored Jerome Robbins and the Joffrey Ballet. That’s why Swift says people are already gossiping about Harkness and wondering how a … She was born Rebekah Semple West in 1915 to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s here where Rebekah catapulted into high society. Name variations: Betty Harkness. In the first verse of “The Last Great American Dynasty”, Swift sings that the ceremony “was charming, if a little gauche / There’s only so far new money goes”. [2], After graduating in 1932, she and a group of female friends formed the Bitch Pack, a sub-culture of local debutantes who enjoyed subverting society events, including lacing punchbowls with mineral oil and performing stripteases on banquet tables. (Her reasoning was thus: “I hope the beauty of Harkness House will persuade some of these people that ballet need not be dingy and that by their patronage they are contributing to the splendid and glamorous.”) Yet disagreements over artistic direction led to the company’s disbanding in 1970. After her husband passed away in 1954, Harkness poured more money into her Watch Hill compound, installing 8 kitchens and 21 baths. Upon her death in 1982, Rebekah Harkness was called many things in her New York Times obituary. The Holiday House was once owned by Rebekah Harkness. She even started a company of her own in 1964: the Harkness Ballet. A New York Times article described Harkness's unusual upbringing. She used much of her inheritance to become a patron of the ballet, as well as to compose music. The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. A patron of dance and medicine. Their wedding took place at 730 Park Avenue, which was William’s apartment. Rebekah married William Hale Harkness, the heir to the Standard Oil fortune. Born in 1915 in St Louis, Missouri, Harkness was the second daughter of prominent stockbroker Allen Tarwater and his wife, also named Rebekah. She attended finishing school at the Fermata School for Girls in Aiken, South Carolina, whose other alums included Roosevelts and Auchinclosses. [4] Harkness also surrounded herself with other well-known people, like yogi B.K.S. It tells the story of Standard Oil heiress Rebekah Harkness. Babe Paley, one of Truman Capote’s swans. [2] Neither parent was involved in the upbringing of the children, leaving them to be raised primarily by nannies. In 1946, when Annabelle was 2, her mother divorced Dickson Pierce. (Yes, the seaside mansion that was the setting for Taymerica.) Many believe that … The question Swift would have you ask is how much of this reputation was deserved and how much was the result of gossip or judgmental peers. [4], In the 1960s, Harkness became well known as a philanthropist and patron of the arts. Ad Choices. Read next. Rebekah Harkness, as seen in the December 1956 issue of. The wedding was charming, if a little gauche There's only so far new money goes The newly married couple moved into "Holiday House," but after suffering two heart attacks William Harkness died in 1954 leaving Rebekah an exorbitantly wealthy widow. Harkness had three husbands. [20] They divorced in 1977. Her 1955 tone poem, Safari Suite, was performed at Carnegie Hall, and in 1957 she released an album titled Music With a Heartbeat. The song focuses on Rebekah Harkness, a divorcee who famously married into the Standard Oil fortune in 1947, and patron to several New York City dance companies. Henry Flagler, in St away in 1954, they had one child together Edith! 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