Brooke Astor Turns 104

Janice at Cow Hampshire offers a genealogical and biographical profile of Roberta Brooke (Russell) Kuser Marshall Astor, who was born Mar. 30, 1902, in Portsmouth, N. H., and is still with us. A good part of her remarkable life has been spent at Cove End, "a white-shingled 'cottage' on Mount Desert Island, off the coast of Maine." Her third husband was William Vincent Astor—son of Titanic passenger John Jacob Astor—whom she married Oct. 8, 1953, in Bar Harbor. Upon his death in 1959, she inherited a sizeable fortune, a large portion of which she has taken great pleasure in giving away.

A New York Times article on the occasion of her 100th birthday described her as "a legendary flirt," who "still wears high heels and laments the dearth of social events that demand formal dress."

In a testament to her enduring intellectual fitness, she cautioned out loud how she might occasionally repeat herself during the conversation.

"After all, I am quite old," she said, then smoothed her palms over her face. "But you know what? I have never had any work done."

She leaned close.

"Tell me honestly," Mrs. Astor said, pursing her pink-glossed lips, sucking in her cheekbones and angling her face from side to side. "Could I use some?" [NYT, Mar. 30, 2002]

[tagged: Maine]