In a continued effort to prove to my friend Susan Rountree that maybe I am Forest Gump, here is another tale of my intersection with rich and famous personalities of the 20th Century.
This one involved a delightful afternoon surrounded by photographs of Glenn Close, Dina Merrill, Mar-a-Lago, countless famous Maryland racing horses, and Best-in-Show winners at the Westminster Kennel Club. Many of the photographs sat atop a full Steinway grand and the rest shared wall space with ribbons, trophies, and artifacts of a most privileged lifestyle.
I was sitting in the vast living room of Happy Retreat, Daisy, Maryland as the guest of Mrs. Adelaide Close Riggs, the daughter of Marjorie Merriweather Post, and the granddaughter of CW Post, founder of the Post cereal company.
I was there to pick up some money, and I had clearly come to the right place.
It was in 1991, and I was the Senior Warden of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ellicott City, Maryland.
We were an old parish with an historic church built in 1860 along the National Pike in Ellicott City, Maryland. A bell tower had been added to the original church and the footprint of the nave had been expanded once before. We were expanding the nave again to the East, adding seating and creating a new sacristy behind a new altar. It was a big project with a big budget, and new ideas as we went along. One idea had to do with the pews for the expanded seating.
The original plan was to keep the existing pews in the church and try to match the new pews with the old seating. While we could come close, they would not be exact replicas. For some of the older members, close was not good enough. And some of the older members had contacts to fulfill their vision to replace all of the pews in the church.
One such member was Mattie Taylor.
Mattie was a retired educator and former director of the lower school of Glenelg Country School, in Howard County, Maryland.
Born Mattie Hanson on a family farm in Valley Springs, S.D., she earned her bachelor’s degree in 1941 from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., where she began her teaching career. She had the grit of someone born far away from either coast, and never saw a project or a goal too big to take on. Her lifelong passion was advocacy for people with special needs and she lobbied for legislation and funding on behalf of children with Down syndrome. The first group home in the state for retarded citizens is a part of her legacy.
So, money for pews was not a very high hurdle.
She and her husband Frank had a wide circle of friends, many of whom were fellow parishioners at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Owing to a mutual love of bridge, one such friend was heiress and philanthropist Adelaide Riggs.
I was not a party to the back channel communications associated with the contribution, but I heard from Mattie that Mrs. Riggs wanted to cover the $22,000 for the new pews. And Mattie thought that it would be most appropriate for our Senior Warden (me) to drive to Daisy, Maryland to pick up the check in person. Either Mattie, or our Rector Bill Shiflet arranged the date and time, and off I went.
Now, I knew that Mrs. Riggs had very deep pockets and was the major benefactor for St. John’s little mission church, St. Andrews that met at the historic Union Chapel in Glenwood, Maryland. The chapel had an adjoining cemetery that was the final resting place of Mrs. Riggs husband, Augustus “Gus” Riggs, IV. But as I think back on it, I don’t know that I knew the full biography of Mrs. Riggs or the impact of her distinguished family.
In those pre-Google days, we missed a lot of detail about our fellow travelers.
Mrs. Riggs was the daughter of Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir to the Post cereal fortune, and Edward Bennett Close, who was an investment banker from Greenwich Connecticut. For much of Marjorie Post’s life, she was known as the wealthiest woman in the United States. She is associated with many famous homes, but the two most notable examples are Mar-a-Lago which she built in 1924-1927 with her then husband E.F. Hutton, and the Hillwood Estate in Washington, DC that she purchased in 1955. It was at Hillwood that she was laid to rest upon her death in 1973.
Marjorie Post was married three times, so the family tree is both exclusive and complicated. Her daughter Adelaide Riggs was the stepsister of Nedenia Marjorie Hutton, better known as actress Dina Merrill (The Sundowners, Butterfield 8, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father and many TV credits). Merrill was married to actor Cliff Robertson for 20 years.
Mrs. Rigg’s other connection to Hollywood was through her stepbrother William Taliaferro Close. After Edward Bennett Close divorced Marjorie Merriweather Post, he married Elizabeth Taliaferro, of a prominent family in Virginia.
William Taliaferro Close was their son. He became a famous surgeon and married socialite Bettine Moore. One of their children was actress Glenn Close, who was therefore a niece to Mrs. Riggs through her stepbrother. Glenn grew up in a stone house on the property of her grandfather’s estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. That childhood connection to Greenwich and a mutual lifetime love of dogs made this niece a favorite of Adelaide Riggs.
It seems that the family standard was to be married three times and like her mother before her, Mrs. Riggs had vowed a lifetime of devotion on three public occasions. Her first marriage was in 1927 to Thomas Wells “Tim” Durant, the handsome, dashing sportsman and playboy. A stockbroker by profession, one year after the birth of their daughter Ellen, Durant lost his business in the 1929 Crash. His love of horses and fox hunting led him and his bride from Connecticut to Harford County Maryland. After their divorce in 1936, Durant moved to Beverly Hills, California.
In his newly adopted home, he shifted from fox hunting to the western equivalent, pursuing coyotes on horseback. Durant’s hunting companions at West Hills included film stars Jose Ferrer, Ronald Reagan, and Joan Fontaine as well as director John Huston. It was Huston who persuaded Tim Durant to become an actor and star in his motion picture Red Badge of Courage in 1951. The role was played almost entirely in the saddle and Huston famously said, “it is easier to teach a horseman to act than it is to teach an actor to ride.”
Durant was married a second time, to Mary Durant in 1953 at the Irish estate of John Huston. In lieu of a reception, the couple led their guests on a fox hunt through the Irish countryside. While this second marriage lasted longer than his first, it did not deter him from being romantically linked to Marlene Dietrich, Carole Landis, Greta Garbo and Rosalind Russell throughout his life.
Adelaide Riggs second marriage was to Merrall MacNeille, originally from New York City, a graduate of Yale and a polo player of some renown. In 1938 they moved to Howard County, Maryland where they ran a horse farm together. MacNeille had about every job imaginable in the world of Maryland horse racing. He eventually rose to the rank of steward of thoroughbred racing judging events from Pimlico to Laurel to Timonium. The couple had two daughters together, Ellen and Melissa.
As Merrall was rising to the pinnacle of his profession, he and Adelaide divorced in 1948. Shortly thereafter, Adelaide married her third husband, Augustus “Gus” Riggs IV. They moved to the Daisy Maryland estate, Happy Retreat that dates to the late 18th century.
Gus Riggs was a talented horse breeder but had one shortcoming that kept him from the top. Frugality. His friends said that he never would pay more than $500 for a broodmare and that held him back from reaching the pinnacle of the sport.
During this period, while Gus concentrating on the horses, Mrs. Riggs became an internationally acclaimed canine authority, the first woman to judge the terrier group at the Westminster Dog Show and also to judge England’s premier dog show at Crufts. She judged in shows throughout Europe and the United States.
When Gus died in 1975, Mrs. Riggs, unconstrained by frugality, began a complete make-over of Happy Retreat. When I visited in 1991, the fields were filled with 44 horses, including 17 broodmares, daughters of Northern Dancer, Alydar and In Reality, in foal to such stallions as Forty Niner and El Gran Senor. In addition to stakes winners Woods of Windsor and Wild Zone, Mrs. Riggs had 2-year-olds sired by Seattle Slew and Secretariat and owned a quarter interest of the Alydar colt, Alydannon, who was being trained in England. She had built a state-of-the art training barn, new broodmare barns, a half-mile training track and acquired Lucien Laurin’s old training center in Holly Hill, S.C.
As reported in the Baltimore Sun,
Today one of her homebred colts, Woods of Windsor — named after the European fragrance that her sister, who lives in Paris, lavishes on her — could start as the favorite in the $125,000 Maryland Juvenile Championship at Laurel Race Course. It is Woods of Windsor that could be Mrs. Rigg’s Triple Crown hopeful.
As I drove to Daisy Maryland that day and arrived at Happy Retreat, Mrs. Riggs was in her 83rd year and while no longer competing on the tennis courts or fox hunting with the men, she was still a force to be reckoned with. When her name was invoked at St. John’s it was always with reverence and a certain element of mystery. I was nervous as I cleared the gates that day and drove past the multiple No Trespassing signs.
As I proceeded down the long driveway I was struck by the scope of the 540 acre operation and the number and variety of buildings along the way. Stables, barns, a training track, endless fields and fencing as far as you could see. I turned into the gravel driveway of the old estate house, to find that while it was large, it was not ostentatious, having clearly grown in sections throughout the years.
I expected to be greeted by “staff”, but Mrs. Riggs herself answered the door and gave me a slight smile (the only one of the visit) and a firm handshake. Gray short hair in a horsewoman’s bob, she wore a belted denim shirt dress and flats. Straight posture, a slight limp (1977 horse accident that retired her from riding?) She was elegant in her bearing with a quiet reserve.
I followed her down the hallway to a sprawling living room where the Steinway dominated one corner, and comfortable-looking sofas and chairs were arranged in the center. Built-in shelving flanked the large fireplace and were filled with horse, dog, and tennis trophies and ribbons. She directed me with the silent swipe of her hand to the sofa and seated herself on a straight chair diagonally to my left across the mahogany and brass coffee table. Shortly after we were seated, a beautiful German Shepherd strolled in and lay down at her feet.
I recall that she graciously asked me about myself, my time at St. John’s, my family, and the renovation project. She made clear that her first love was old Union Chapel, but that St. John’s could count on her support.
After a pleasant few minutes’ exchange, she leaned forward and picked up a black three-ring binder from the coffee table and opened it to reveal a page of blank checks. She confirmed the $22,000 anticipated amount, carefully filled in the information, completed the stub, and inquired as to the memo line. Her handwriting was perfect, befitting fine primary education and a lifetime of penning invitation and thank you notes. She signed the check with authority, and after carefully folding the draft at the perforations, tore it from the book.
After handing me the check and receiving my heartfelt thank you on behalf of all of the people of St. John’s, she rose and turned toward the hallway. Her canine companion arose in unison and took up his position at her heel.
The visit was over.
I slowly walked past the photo collection on the piano. After noting the gallery of fame and fortune of the 20th century I lingered a moment at the color 8 X 10 of Glenn Close. Mrs. Riggs looked back and noted my gaze. She quietly said that “Glennie” had just visited a couple weeks before. I mentioned that while I did not know her, we had attended The College of William and Mary at the same time. She absorbed that fact without comment and continued toward the door.
The goodbye was similar to the hello, and I was on my way.
As I drove back through the estate I marveled at the scope of the operation and the immaculate condition of the property. Fences, buildings, turf…pristine.
I took the opportunity that day to stop at Cedar Grove Cemetery on the way out to the main road. It was maybe four minutes from the estate, and I had never explored it before.
Dominated by 12-foot tall obelisk that marks the grave of Augustus Riggs IV, today it is also the final resting place of Adelaide Close Riggs.
Mrs. Riggs passed away from complications related to pneumonia on New Year’s Eve, 1998 at Happy Retreat. She was 90 years old. In accordance with her final wishes her small funeral ceremony was conducted at Union Chapel.
Glenn Close sang The Lord’s Prayer as a tribute to her beloved Aunt Adelaide.