Mrs. Astor Regrets (27 page)

In February 2005, the Marshalls, accompanied yet again by Francis Morrissey, drove out to Holly Hill to tell Chris Ely (who lived in an apartment above the garage) that they were shutting down the property and his services were no longer necessary. The butler was not surprised—Tony and Charlene had always seemed to resent Brooke's reliance on him—but he was worried, since he felt that he had become Mrs. Astor's sole protector. Brooke's closest friends were troubled by the firing too. "Chris was wonderful with Brooke," says David Rockefeller. "It was shocking to Annette and myself when Tony let Chris go."

From Holly Hill, Ely had long been his employer's conduit to the outside world. If Mrs. Astor seemed especially lonely, Ely would invite people over on her alert days. As Barbara Goldsmith recalls, "After Chris was fired, it became much more difficult to see her. You'd try and someone would say, 'There's not much point.'" The butler, who could be blunt and demanding, had not been universally loved by Mrs. Astor's staff. If he found a dust ball, he would reprimand the maids, and if he saw that the nurses had changed the channel on Mrs. Astor's television to watch a show they preferred—an evangelical program or Oprah—he would switch back to Mrs. Astor's longtime favorites, Turner Classic Movies or the Discovery Channel. But without Ely, who commanded respect in the household, there was no one the rest of the staff could talk to about their questions or problems.

Tony's glowing letter of recommendation complimented Ely for his "precise" fiscal accounting and entertaining skills and expressed gratitude for his solicitude. "During the past two years Mrs. Astor's strength and well-being has deteriorated," the letter said. "Chris was most attentive to Mrs. Astor's wishes and comfort and would frequently take Mrs. Astor for long drives along the Hudson River and through the countryside." Of course, Tony also was one of the few who knew the precise financial savings that followed termination of the butler's employment. Mrs. Astor had left Ely $50,000 in her 2002 will, but only if he was still employed by her at the time of her death.

Philip had always had warm feelings toward his grandmother's loyal butler. The next time he passed through Westchester, he took Chris Ely out for a meal. The butler was circumspect—after all, Philip was Tony's son—but he did take pains to mention the reports he had heard of lawyers traipsing through Mrs. Astor's apartment. "I thought it was a little late for her to be carrying on with lawyers," Philip says. "But no one told me about the codicils."

Although he listened to Chris Ely's concerns, Philip was too overwhelmed by other family problems to be receptive. His mother had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer; she was his priority. Still, with Naomi Packard-Koot and now Chris Ely gone, he was worried about who would watch out for his grandmother's interests. As he puts it, "I felt impotent."

For Mrs. Astor, the butler's disappearance from her life was traumatic. Several weeks after his departure, he called Mrs. Astor's nurses to say he wanted to visit. To jog her memory and give her something to look forward to, the staff had gotten into the habit of bringing out photographs of expected visitors. "We showed her a picture of Chris before he came," Minnette Christie recalls. "She wasn't talking much, but she asked, 'Is he dead?' She didn't believe me when I said no, so she asked Pearline, and she believed Pearline. She put her hand to her heart and said, 'I love him.'"

In Brooke Astor's addled mind, death was the only possible reason that Chris Ely would have abandoned her. But her son was either threatened by the butler's power over his mother or oblivious of the potency of their bond, since he soon banned Ely from visiting. "Chris called once and we put the phone to Mrs. Astor's ear," Christie recalls. "Tears ran down her face."

May 1997. Brooke Astor, New York's most enduring philanthropist, at age ninety-five. She shut down the Astor Foundation that year but was still constantly out and about.
Serge J-F. Levy/AP Photo

Dazzling in her custom-designed Oscar de la Renta gown, Brooke Astor celebrates at her one hundredth birthday party with intimates Laurance (left) and David Rockefeller.

Mary Hilliard/Courtesy of David Rockefeller

David Rockefeller welcomes Brooke Astor's son, Tony Marshall, and his lively wife, Charlene, to the festivities.
Mary Hilliard/Courtesy of David Rockefeller

Nan Starr (left) with her husband, Philip Marshall, and his fraternal twin, Alec, with Brooke Astor. The twins, especially Philip, would grow closer to their grandmother during her last years.

Mary Hilliard/Courtesy of David Rockefeller

Philip and Alec Marshall at the grand birthday celebration. Philip had a difficult relationship with their father, but Alec was usually on good terms.

Collection of Philip Marshall

Brooke, age seventeen, and her new husband, Dryden Kuser, in Venice. The union was a disaster from the wedding night on.

Brooke and Buddie Marshall (husband number two and the man she considered the love of her life) at their country home in Tyringham, Massachusetts, in 1952. He died there unexpectedly later that year.

Collection of Philip Marshall

Dryden Kuser during a rare family visit with his two children, Suzanne and Tony.

Collection of Suzanne Kuser

Time's
Vincent Astor cover, April 9, 1934. The twice-divorced millionaire misanthrope would marry Brooke nineteen years later. "If she married him for his charm," remarked the author Louis Auchincloss, "I'd have said she ought to be put in an asylum."

Time Magazine/Getty Images

Brooke Astor and Tony's first wife, Elizabeth Cryan Marshall, and the twins, who arrived in 1953.

Collection of Philip Marshall