Parents R. R. M. Carpenter | Uncle Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. | |
Died 8 February 1976, Talbot County, Maryland, United States Similar Libby Holman, R R M Carpenter, Jane Bowles, Walter S Carpenter - Jr | ||
Louisa D'Andelot Carpenter (October 16, 1907 - February 8, 1976) was a du Pont heiress, Jazz Age socialite and aviator.
Contents
Biography
She was born on October 16, 1907, to Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter and Margaretta Lammot du Pont (May 12, 1884 - May 1973), daughter of Lammot du Pont. They were married December 18, 1906, in Wilmington, Delaware. Her siblings were Irene "Renee" du Pont Carpenter Draper (January 21, 1911 - January 28, 1991), Nancy Gardiner Carpenter (June 19, 1912 - July 13, 1914), Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter, Jr. (August 31, 1915 - 1990) and William Kemble Carpenter (May 27, 1919 - August 1987 Boca Raton, Florida)
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.
Carpenter commissioned the paintings of thoroughbred horses "Jabneh" (b. 1952) in 1956 and his dam "Belle Soeur" (b. 1945) by equine artist Ann Collins in 1959.
She died in a crash of her private plane near her Easton, Maryland, farm on February 8, 1976, at the age of 68.
Legacy
Louisa enjoyed fox hunting as a Master of Fox Hounds, shooting pheasants, and riding and breeding horses. She was one of the first women airplane pilots.
Her circle of friends, socialites, acquaintances and lovers included Evelyn Eugenia (known as "Sister") and her sister Tallulah Bankhead, Louise Brooks, Marion Carstairs, Noël Coward, Greta Garbo, Libby Holman, Jane Bowles and Z. Smith Reynolds. Louisa was regarded as a lesbian and often appeared in public in men's suits and ties. When Libby Holman was indicted for the murder of her husband Zachary Smith Reynolds, Louisa Carpenter paid Libby's $25,000 bail, appearing at the Wentworth, North Carolina, courthouse in such mannish clothes that bystanders and reporters thought she was a man.