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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1959)
? Governor and Mrs. Rockefeller and their children gather for family portrait. Seated with their parents are Mary and Ann. Standing are sons Steven, Rodman, and Michael. Living Like a ROCKEFELLER Despite his $100-million fortune and his job as governor of New York, Nelson sticks to a no-frills routine which even his political ambitions haven't changed by Beverly Jablons The young man hesitantly approached his father, busy reading some business reports, and said, "Dad, there's a dance tonight and well, I sort of ran out of money this week." The father, a heavy-jawed, robust man, looked up from his papers and shrugged. "That's tough, son," he replied and returned to his work. A typical family scene. But not a typical father and son. Dad is Nelson Rockefeller, 51-year-old governor of New York with a fortune estimated at $100 million. Son is Michael, heir to one of the world's great fortunes but, like other offspring of the family, a young man with limited funds and definite rules to observe. The Nelson Rockefellers live in a mansion pro vided by the state of New York. Nineteen state employees keep the household running smoothly. The family personally owns four homes in the United States and an experimental farm in Vene zuela. Fifteen persons attend these dwellings which house an art collection worth millions. There the "fabulous" part of Rockefeller living ends. True, there's a sailboat one many junior executives could afford. There's a swimming pool, too "a kiddies' pool," grumbles one guest. "Three people in it and it overflows." But on the whole, the politically ambitious grandson of John D. Rockefeller, oil mogul who gave away dimes, lives modestly and with a minimum of pretension. Not that the Rockefellers affect a "gee, we're-just-like-everybody-else" facade. They are not like everybody else: they are like the Rockefellers they want to be. Nelson, for example, wants to be comfortable. Newsmen kid him about wearing "out-of-date", suits with wide lapels. He doesn't care. He likes them, and if there is one millionaire's prerogative that Nelson exercises, it is not following the crowd. Mrs. Rockefeller, the former Mary Todhunter Clark of Philadelphia, also ignores what's "ex pected" of a millionaire's wife. An ultra-conservative dresser herself, she is neither the luxury- soaked aristocrat nor the cafe-society gadabouti Neither is she the "housewife" her husband's pH litical drum-beaters would like to make her. T Tor "nnnlrlnfl" pnncicfe nf tolling an expert in French cuisine what to serve and. sometimes, thl ingredients to use. Yet she has a full-time house! hold schedule to keen laree staffs functioning so that her husband can settle in any of his home! at a moment's notice without interfering with wi order and tranquility necessary for his demanding job as governor. The Rockefellers' day begins at 7:30 a.m., even Nolcrm'e hi-onkfact is ordinary-H grapefruit, toast, boiled egg. The day is devoted t work which four generations of Rockefellers nav Kan nnw nleasure money could buy. Mrs. Rockefeller, when not keeping he j household in wm-lrincr rrW. is nurSUing hei lc1 Ions interest in mirsino ediicatioh and health. dedicated worker, she is as well-organized and direct in Viop inhc nc Vior Vitichand is in his. I Evenings may be spent at a concert or the thean tor tlt ,-.. i u u.- oni dinner guest! ...U I i l monil WnlH wuvj nitty ue serveu an eiauuiaic . i their host enjoys simple meat, potatoes, and ic 12 Family Weekly, November $. 1S
