Janet Lee Bouvier - Biography

Biography

Bouvier was born as Janet Norton Lee, the daughter of Margaret A. (née Merritt; 1878 – February 26, 1943) and James Thomas Lee (October 2, 1877 – January 3, 1968). Lee studied at Sweet Briar College and later at Vassar College, but did not graduate from either institution. Her paternal grandfather, Dr. James Lee, was a superintendent of the New York City public school system, although Janet Bouvier preferred to tell people that he was a Maryland-born veteran of the United States Civil War. She had two sisters: Winifred Norton Lee (Mrs. Franklin d'Olier) and Marion Norton Lee (Mrs. John J. Ryan Jr.).

She married three times. Her first husband was John Vernou Bouvier III, also known as "Black Jack", allegedly for his swarthy coloring. They were married on July 7, 1928, and had two daughters: Jacqueline Lee (1929–1994) and Caroline Lee (b. March 3, 1933). "Black Jack" Bouvier's womanizing and drinking led to a separation in 1936, a brief reconciliation for a few months in 1937, and then a divorce in 1940.

Janet's second husband was Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr., an attorney and Standard Oil heir; she was his third wife. They were married on June 21, 1942, and had two children: Janet Jennings Auchincloss Rutherfurd (1945–1985) and James Lee Auchincloss, born in 1947.

Her third marriage, after Auchincloss' death, was to Bingham "Booch" Morris on October 25, 1979. Though they separated in 1981, the marriage lasted until her death eight years later, aged 81, from complications arising from Alzheimer's disease, in Newport, Rhode Island. Coincidentally, she died on Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy's 99th birthday.