The One Woman Jackie Kennedy Wanted to Impress
To many, Jackie Kennedy remains the quintessential American hostess. But to the former first lady, the epitome of grace and sophistication was always her friend Bunny Mellon.
A fellow Miss Porter's graduate, Rachel Lambert Mellon (affectionately nicknamed Bunny) was the heiress to a mouthwash fortune. Her paternal grandfather invented Listerine, and her father built the brand into a medicine-cabinet staple during the 1920s. As Kennedy's personal assistant Kathy McKeon put it, "the Mellons were the richest of the rich."
And even though the two women were close friends and confidants, Kennedy couldn't help but get worked up when Mellon paid a visit, even in the casual atmosphere of her summer home in Cape Cod.
"When Mrs. Mellon was coming for lunch, Madam would go into a near-tizzy. Everything needed to be just right," writes McKeon in her new memoir Jackie's Girl.
"'Kath, make sure the cushions are right on the chaise, that the zippers are to the back!' she'd fuss. In the kitchen, she would hover over the cook: What kind of soup was being served? Something with some green in it, she fretted, maybe some parsley or leek, or what about asparagus, was there any good asparagus?"
Surely, the fuss was appreciated by the unassuming Mellon, but she was hardly high maintenance.
"You'd never guess Bunny Mellon was a billionaire the way she breezed through the kitchen door, chattering away, her arms full of flowers," remembers McKeon.
"Yellow sunflowers were her favorite offering."
Jackie's Girl: My Life with the Kennedy Family is on sale now.
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