Lurline Matson Roth (1890–1985) was an American heiress, equestrian and philanthropist from

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. She competed in horse shows in the United States, and bred award-winning horses. She donated her estate,

Filoli Filoli, also known as the Bourn-Roth Estate, is a country house set in of formal gardens surrounded by a estate, located in Woodside, California, about south of San Francisco, at the southern end of Crystal Springs Reservoir, on the eastern ...

, to the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...

Biography

Early life

Born Lurline Berenice Matson on September 3, 1890 in

.Burt A. Folkart
Matson Line Heiress Roth Dies After 95th Birthday : Philanthropist Lurline Roth Dies at Age 95
''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'', September 6, 1985Lurline Matson Roth, 95, daughter of the founder of the Matson shipping line
''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

'', September 8, 1985 She was named Lurline after sugar magnate

Claus Spreckels Adolph Claus J. Spreckels (July 9, 1828 – December 26, 1908) (his last name has also been misspelled as Spreckles) was a major industrialist in Hawai'i during the kingdom, republican and territorial periods of the islands' history. He also i ...

's yacht.Filoli: The Roths: Lurline Matson Roth & William P. Roth
/ref> Her father, William Matson, was the Swedish-American founder of Matson, Inc., a shipping corporation. As such she was an heiress to the Matson fortune.Harriet Swift, ''The Virago Woman's Travel Guide to San Francisco'', Book Passage Press, 1994

/ref> Her mother was Lillie Berenice (Low) Matson (1864–1930). She had two older brothers, Walter Joseph (1877–1926) and Theodore William Matson (1883–1936). The family wintered in a rented house in San Francisco and summered in a house near

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it w ...

. She was educated at Miss Hamlin's, a private all-girl school in San Francisco, where she studied music and art.

Equestrian

She competed in horse shows every year and won national medals.Thalia Lubin, Bob Dougherty, ''Woodside'', Arcadia Publishing, 2011, p. 9

/ref> In 1924, her mother purchased the Why Worry Farm in Woodside for Lurline, where she bred horses. She owned a five-gaited horse, a three-gaited horse, a Standardbred road horse, a Hackney horse, a Hackney pony and a jumper and hired a trainer, thus turning it into a show stable. After she stopped competing, her horses won many equestrian awards. Two of her best-known American Saddlebred horses were Chief of Longview (born at

Longview Farm Longview Farm in Lee's Summit, Missouri, United States was built by Robert A. Long. In planning the farm Long turned to Henry F. Hoit of Hoit, Price and Barnes, as he had designed Corinthian Hall and the R.A. Long Building. George Kessler wa ...

Lee's Summit, Missouri Lee's Summit is a city located within the counties of Jackson (primarily) and Cass in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2020 census its population was 101,108, making it the sixth-largest city in both ...

) and Sweetheart on Parade.

Philanthropy

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she volunteered for the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

. A decade later, in 1964, she renovated

Ghirardelli Square Ghirardelli Square is a landmark public square with shops and restaurants and a 5-star hotel in the Marina area of San Francisco, California. A portion of the area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as Pioneer Woolen ...

in San Francisco with her son. The renovation cost US$10 million. In 1975, she donated Filoli to the

Personal life

She met William Philip Roth (1879–1963), a stockbroker from Honolulu, in 1913. Even though her father was opposed to their relationship, they got married a year later in San Francisco, on May 27, 1914. They had a son,

William M. Roth William Matson Roth (September 3, 1916 – May 29, 2014) was an American shipping executive, special ambassador for trade, member of the ACLU executive committee, and Regent for the University of California. He is credited with the preservation of ...

in 1916, and two identical twin daughters, Lurline Roth Coonan and Berenice Roth Spalding, in 1920. They resided at Why Worry Farm with Lurline's mother, and they had another estate in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

.John R. K. Clark, ''Clark: Beaches of the Big Island'', Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1985, p. 13

/ref> In 1937, they purchased

, an estate in

Woodside, California Woodside is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. Woodside is among the wealthiest communities in the United States, home to many technology billionaires and investment manager ...

, from heir

William Bowers Bourn II William Bowers Bourn II (31 May 1857 – 5 July 1936) was an American entrepreneur and socialite. Bourn ran and controlled the Empire Mine and the San Francisco Gas Company, he was an investor in Spring Valley Water Company, and he led a merger t ...

.Filoli: The Roths: The Roths at Filoli
/ref> They often entertained guests at Filoli, including the pianist

Ignace Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation's Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versaill ...

and the aviator

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...

, who took her on a plane ride in 1937. After her husband died in 1963, she lived by herself at Filoli. One of her daughters, Berenice, married Charles F. Spalding, an advisor to

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

, television screenwriter, investment banker and heir to the Cudahy Packing fortune.Charles Spalding
''

San Francisco Gate The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...

'', December 30, 1999

Death

She died on Wednesday, September 4, 1985, in

Burlingame, California Burlingame () is a city in San Mateo County, California. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame and is known for its numerous eucalyp ...

. She was ninety-five years old.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matson Roth, Lurline 1890 births 1985 deaths People from Woodside, California People from San Francisco American female equestrians American racehorse owners and breeders Philanthropists from California 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American women 20th-century American people