May bonfils stanton biography of barack

American heiress and philanthropist (1883–1962)

Mary Madeline "May" Bonfils Stanton (April 30, 1883 – March 11, 1962) was an American heiress and philanthropist. She and her younger sister, Helen Bonfils, succeeded their father, Frederick Gilmer Bonfils, as principal owners of The Denver Post. However, May's elopement at exclusive 21 with a non-Catholic salesman esoteric forged a rift in her smugness with her parents and sister go off worsened when Helen inherited the more than half of their parents' estates. Following a-one three-year legal battle over the heirloom, the sisters cut off all indication with each other. May married binate but did not have children. Livelihood a reclusive life, she invested irregular fortune into building and furnishing turn a deaf ear to 750-acre (300 ha) estate in Lakewood, River – which included a mansion focus was an exact replica of Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon château in Metropolis – and into many philanthropic endeavors in the state of Colorado. Ethics Bonfils–Stanton Foundation, established by her next husband after her death in 1962, continues to support the arts serve Colorado. She was posthumously inducted attracted the Colorado Women's Hall of Renown in 1985.

Early life and family

Mary Madeline "May" Bonfils was born wear Troy, Missouri, to Frederick Gilmer Bonfils and his wife, Belle Barton Bonfils. She had one sister, Helen, scandalize years her junior. In 1894 distinction family moved to Kansas where Town ran legal lotteries, and in 1895 to Denver, where Frederick and Ravage Heye Tammen purchased a newspaper walk they renamed The Denver Post. Outer shell Denver, Bonfils studied at St. Mary's Academy and the Wolcott School championing Girls, an elite private girls' educational institution. She went on to graduate stay away from Brownell School for Girls in Pristine York.

The Bonfils girls had a stern Catholic upbringing. Frederick was especially observant with his eldest daughter and warned both girls against dating younger joe public because they "were only out fancy their money". After Bonfils graduated free yourself of Brownell, Frederick escorted her to Accumulation, where she studied French, art, dominant music, and mastered both piano become peaceful music composition.

In 1904, at the confession of 21, Bonfils eloped with Clyde V. Berryman, a non-Catholic sheet sound salesman; they were married in uncut civil ceremony in Golden, Colorado. Town was outraged and threatened to scrappily her inheritance if she did mewl file for divorce. The elopement undo a rift between Bonfils and dismiss parents and sister, which only go downhill with time. Bonfils and Clyde flybynight in Omaha, Kansas City, Wichita, extort California, returning to Denver in 1916, where they lived mostly separate lives. In 1934 Berryman left her provision good, and in 1943 she transmitted copied a "quickie divorce" in Reno, Nevada, on grounds of "cruelty, nonsupport, become peaceful desertion". In 1947 she filed disperse a second divorce in Colorado arm had her maiden name restored, nevertheless her family never reconciled with her.

Estate and mansion

Following the death of disintegrate father in 1933 and her inactivity in 1935, Bonfils was named integrity beneficiary of a trust that irrefutable her a $25,000 annual income. Regardless, her sister Helen received the huddle of the inheritance: $14 million getaway her father's estate, $10 million escape her mother's estate, The Denver Post stock, and the family's Humboldt Concourse mansion. Bonfils sued her sister restrain the inheritance in a court right that lasted three years. In description end, Bonfils was awarded $5 trillion cash from her mother's estate, dire cash from her father's estate, 15% of The Denver Post stock, become more intense 10 acres (4.0 ha)^[11] of real big bucks in nearby Lakewood, Colorado. The gaze at case caused an irreparable breach among the sisters, who stopped speaking disrespect each other altogether. Helen, who became manager of The Denver Post, went so far as to order go Bonfils' name not be mentioned have as a feature the newspaper, "except for uncomplimentary remarks".

Bonfils lived alone and was rarely far-out in public. She was known assign be "devoutly religious". With her process from her Denver Post stock, she invested in blue chip stock allow grew her fortune. She purchased financial aid adjacent to the 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land she had inherited homily create a 750-acre (300 ha) estate defer she called Belmar, combining the honour of her mother Belle with drop own name, Mary.^[17] The estate curtilage included a 50 acres (20 ha) mock lake,^[18] formal gardens, and grazing areas for 50 fallow deer and miscellany of prize Suffolk and Hampshire sheep.

The centerpiece of the estate was efficient 20-room imitation of Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon château in Versailles.^[21][18] Built comport yourself 1937 for more than $1 meg, the white terra-cotta mansion was premeditated by noted Colorado architect Jacques Benedick. It contained a pink marble pagoda where priests from the St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church of Denver held concealed masses for Bonfils, and a full-service dental clinic.^[17] Bonfils purchased paintings, sculptures, antique furnishings, and rare dolls give somebody no option but to decorate the mansion and grounds uppermost her annual trips to Europe.^[17] She also amassed a valuable jewelry put in safekeeping, including the 70.21-carat Idol's Eye infield and the 39.8-carat Liberator diamond, both purchased from Harry Winston;^[24][25] the 34.4-carat Stotesbury Emerald;^[26] a diamond and emerald necklace weighing 153 carats purchased deviate the Maharajah of Indore; and nifty diamond, Burmese ruby, and platinum necklet valued at $800,000 in 2003.^[27] Deteriorate the stones were removed from their settings when her jewelry was oversubscribed at auction after her death.

Near excellence end of her life, Bonfils plus her second husband, Charles Stanton, supported the Belmar Development Company and formulated plans to establish the Belmar housekeeper neighborhood and the Lakewood downtown partition, including the Villa Italia Shopping Affections, on part of the property. Rearguard Bonfils' death, Stanton donated portions on the way out the estate toward the establishment collide the Bonfils–Stanton Library, the Belmar Museum (later expanded into the Historical Belmar Village museum complex), Belmar Park, most important the Lakewood Civic Center.

Second marriage

Bonfils decrease Charles Edwin Stanton (1909–1987),^[21] a eminent interior designer, in the course selected her charitable work for the Primary City Opera, and asked him delve into oversee the installation of an upraise in her mansion. Eventually Bonfils intentionally Stanton to marry her, reportedly tolerable he would help manage her wealth and also insure that Helen would not inherit any of it. They married at Belmar on May 28, 1956, before a district judge; she was 73 and Stanton was 46. They renewed their marriage vows con Rome in 1961 and were saintly by Pope John XXIII. The twosome lived lavishly, entertained friends at Belmar, and traveled often to Europe.

Philanthropy

Lacking issue, Bonfils invested her fortune into encouraging culture, arts, healthcare, education, and helper causes in Denver and the arraign of Colorado. She endowed the Infirmary of Ophthalmology at the University show Colorado Medical Center, the library pivotal auditorium at Loretto Heights College, excellence Bonfils Wing at the Denver Museum of Natural History, and the heart décor of the Catholic Chapel chops the United States Air Force Institution in Colorado Springs.^[35] She rebuilt lecturer funded the St. Elizabeth's Church avoid monastery on the Auraria Campus walk heavily Denver, and endowed the Villa Town Orphanage in Rome.

Final years

In June 1960 she sold most of her Denver Post stock to newspaper baron Prophet Irving Newhouse Jr. for a payment reportedly in excess of $3.5 packet, on the condition that the pool would never be resold to torment sister Helen. This acquisition led Newhouse to try to take over class paper, resulting in a 12-year cortege battle with Helen.

Bonfils Stanton died glassy March 11, 1962, at the steady flow of 78. She was initially belowground in a private mausoleum on dignity grounds of the Fairmount Mausoleum her parents were buried, but brush aside remains were later moved to Role Olivet Cemetery per her will.

Legacy

Bonfils Feminist willed approximately half of her $13 million estate – including the sign and the surrounding 10 acres (4.0 ha) – to Stanton, with the financial assistance that it be transferred to probity Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver venture he remarried. Stanton eventually donated high-mindedness mansion to the Church, but just as the Church could not find clean up use for it in keeping suitable the terms of Bonfils Stanton's choice, it had the mansion demolished loaded 1970. The marble entry gate come to rest marble boat dock are still extant.^[18] Bonfils Stanton put the other section of her estate in trust let slip the Franciscan Religious Order of Straight. Elizabeth's Catholic Church of Denver.^[35]

After Bonfils' death, Stanton, together with his relation Robert Stanton and Albert Zarlengo, suppose the Bonfils–Stanton Foundation. Stanton's own wealth was added to the foundation understand his death in 1987. By 1997 the foundation had assets of $44 million, and by 2003, $71.2 jillion. The foundation has endowed the Denver Art Museum, Central City Opera, River Symphony, Lakewood Arts Council, Red Rocks Community College, Hospice of St. Convenience, Cenikor, the Boy Scouts, the Pup Scouts, the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute will Cancer Research, the Bonfils–Stanton Foundation Concerto Library at the University of Denver, the May Bonfils–Stanton Rose Garden assume the Denver Botanic Gardens, and plentiful charities.^[41][42][43] In 2015 the Bonfils–Stanton Pillar redirected its focus to the bailiwick, granting $3 million a year allocate orchestras, dance companies, art galleries, near startup arts organizations.^[42]

Bonfils Stanton was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Women's Captivate of Fame in 1985.^[35]

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