Louisa D'Andelot Carpenter (October 16, 1907 - February 8, 1976) was a du Pont heiress, Jazz Age

Jazz Age

The Jazz Age was a movement that took place during the 1920s or the Roaring Twenties from which jazz music and dance emerged. The movement came about with the introduction of mainstream radio and the end of the war. This era ended in the 1930s with the beginning of The Great Depression but has...

 socialite

Socialite

A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....

, aviatrix, and bon vivant.

Early life

Louisa was the eldest daughter of Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter

R. R. M. Carpenter

Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter was an American executive and member of the board of directors of DuPont.-Biography:...

 (July 30, 1877 - June 11, 1949) (known as "Ruli") and Margaretta Lammot du Pont (May 12, 1884 - May, 1973), daughter of Lammot du Pont

Lammot du Pont

Lammot du Pont I was a key member of the Du Pont family in the mid-nineteenth century. His father was Alfred V. du Pont, the eldest son and successor of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, the founder of DuPont. He obtained a chemistry degree from the University of Pennsylvania and entered into the family...

. They were married December 18, 1906 in Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

.

Their other children were Irene du Pont Carpenter (b. January 21, 1911), Nancy Gardiner Carpenter (June 19, 1912 - July 13, 1914), Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter, Jr.

R. R. M. Carpenter, Jr.

Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter Jr. was an owner and club president of the Philadelphia Phillies of American Major League Baseball. When he took command of the Phils, in November 1943 after his father purchased the franchise, Carpenter became the youngest club president in baseball history, and he...

 (August 31, 1915 - 1990) and William Kemble Carpenter (May 27, 1919 - August 1987 Boca Raton, Florida

Boca Raton, Florida

Boca Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA, incorporated in May 1925. In the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,764; the 2006 population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 86,396. However, the majority of the people under the postal address of Boca Raton, about...

)

Activities

Louisa married du Pont executive John Lord King Jenney (September 8, 1904 - September 5, 2005) on July 20, 1929 and they were divorced in 1935. Jenney then remarried twice. First he married Anne Marshall West on November 11, 1938. After her death he married Mary Mellon Wise who survived his death.

Louisa enjoyed hunting fox as a master of hounds and pheasant

Pheasant

Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...

, riding and breeding horses and was one of the first women airplane pilots.

Her circle of friends, socialites, acquaintances and lovers included Eugenia (known as "Sister") and her sister Tallulah Bankhead

Tallulah Bankhead

Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...

, Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks

Mary Louise Brooks , generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, noted for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W...

, Marion Carstairs, Noel Coward

Noël Coward

Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...

, Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...

, Libby Holman, Jane Bowles

Jane Bowles

Jane Bowles, born Jane Sydney Auer , was an American writer and playwright.-Early life:Born into a Jewish family in New York, Jane Bowles spent her childhood in Woodmere, New York, on Long Island. She developed tuberculous arthritis of the knee as a teenager and her mother took her to Switzerland...

 and Z. Smith Reynolds. Louisa was regarded as a lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 and often appeared in public in men's suits and ties. When Libby Holman was indicted for the murder of her husband Z. Smith Reynolds, Louisa Carpenter paid Libby's $25,000 bail

Bail

Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...

, appearing at the Wentworth, North Carolina

Wentworth, North Carolina

Wentworth is a town in Rockingham County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,779 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Rockingham County.-Geography:Wentworth is located at ....

 courthouse in such mannish clothes that bystanders and reporters thought she was a man.

Carpenter commissioned the paintings of thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 horses "Jabneh" (b. 1952) in 1956 and his dam "Belle Soeur" (b. 1945) by equine artist Ann Collins

Ann Collins

Ann Collins was an American artist of thoroughbred racehorses.Ann Collins was born in Lyons, raised in Colorado and although lived in many places during her life she returned to Lyons, NY in 1975, where she lived New York until her death.Ann Collins was commissioned to paint more than...

 in 1959.

Death

She died in a crash of her private plane near her Easton, Maryland

Easton, Maryland

Easton, founded 1710, is a town within the Easton District of Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 11,708 at the 2000 census, and 14,677 according to current July 2008 census estimates. It is the county seat of Talbot County. The primary ZIP Code is 21601, and the...

farm at the age of 69.

External links

• Louisa d'Andelot Carpenter