Virginia Henry Curtiss (1875 – July 11, 1941) was president of

The Heckscher Foundation for Children The Heckscher Foundation for Children is a New York City-focused private foundation that provides grants to underserved New York City youth. Often, the foundation's grant-giving takes the form of program support, capacity-building, capital project ...

and was a member of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

's Child Welfare Board.

Biography

She was born in 1875 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and educated in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. She married widower Edwin Burr Curtiss, of A. G. Spalding Bros. Curtiss commissioned the architects

Carrère and Hastings Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère ( ; November 9, 1858 – March 1, 1911) and Thomas Hastings (March 11, 1860 – October 22, 1929), was one of the outstanding American Beaux-Arts architecture firms. Located in New York City ...

, who had also designed the original clubhouse for the Greenwich Country Club, to build him a house on North Street in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other ...

. Curtiss died at his residence in

Mountain Lake, Florida Mountain Lake is a private community north of the City of Lake Wales, Florida, United States. It was founded in 1915 and contains a golf course designed in 1916 by Seth Raynor. Mountain Lake is located in the ridge country of Central Florida, and ...

, on March 30, 1928 After his death, 55 year old Virginia married 81 year old August Heckscher on July 2, 1930, in the parsonage of the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church in

Croton-on-Hudson, New York Croton-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 8,327 at the 2020 United States census over 8,070 at the 2010 census. It is located in the town of Cortlandt as part of New York City's northern subur ...

. August Heckscher, who was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, died on April 26, 1941, at their home in Mountain Lake, Florida and left his widow $10,000 and all his

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

. She died less than three months later on July 11, 1941. No

legatee A legatee, in the law of wills, is any individual or organization bequeathed any portion of a testator's estate. Usage Depending upon local custom, legatees may be called "devisees". Traditionally, "legatees" took personal property under will a ...

could be found that was named in her will and the

probate court A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as Orphans' Courts o ...

declared an earlier copy of the will as valid. Part of her art collection was donated to an armed forces art program.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heckscher, Virginia Henry Curtiss 1875 births 1941 deaths Austrian philanthropists Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States Expatriates from Austria-Hungary in the United Kingdom