Thursday, March 20, 2014
RACHEL "BUNNY" MELLON
I certainly did not know Bunny Mellon. Although the Mellon name is fairly well known, I was only vaguely familiar with her involvement with politicians such as John Edwards. Then I met Darrel Worthly and suddenly it was the Bacon-esque 6 degrees of separation. Darrel and his wife chose Shipshewana, IN, as their retirement community, and it did not take long for Darrel and my father Ed to become acquainted - Shipshewana is a very small town! And when we visit Indiana, I almost always take Ed over to Shipshewana to have breakfast with Darrel. Turns out the Darrel worked for the Mellons for many years, and thus knew Bunny quite well. Darrel has many stories to share over mush and head cheese, including some related to Mellon's financial support of Edward' haircuts and mistress. Some of these are in Mellon's obituary found here. Because of the circle of Mellon's friends, Darrel got to meet a variety of well-know folks, one of whom you may recognize below with Bunny.
So, what did Darrel do for the Mellons? Was he janitor, gardener, chief accountant? Why did the Worthly's choose Shipshewana? Are they from Indiana? Etc.
ReplyDeleteGood questions - My understanding was that he was a supervisor for all of the grounds, which included gardens, horse facilities, etc. Why Shipshewana? That was among my very first questions for him!! They visited several parts of the country looking for a retirement home; some considerations were costs, closeness to a spread out family, etc. I think that in addition to these things, they thought the town, countryside, Amish, etc., were all very charming. Not too many folks retire to Shipshe!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information, DES. I, too, like Shipshewana. "It is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there," however. Lol! It's a relatively short drive from Lake George, about 35 miles.
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