Great taste: A remembrance of Virginia Jennings Nadeau

By Brent Schondelmeyer

Any conversation about Virginia Jennings Nadeau quickly surfaces this shared assessment:

“She had great taste.”

Virginia Jennings Nadeau, 85, died peacefully at her Kansas City home on Oct. 31. Memorial services for her are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 20 from 6-8 p.m. at Carson-Speaks Funeral Home in Independence.

Great taste.

That was a wonderful quality, particularly if your business was interior design but it involved more than that.

But for those who knew her well it was a broader assessment of a remarkable woman who has a strong sense of self, deeply appreciated history, valued friendships and had a strong aesthetic appreciation of the arts.

““She had wonderful taste, artistic taste and historical taste,” said Barbara Potts, former City of Independence mayor and later executive director of the Jackson County Historical Society. “She had a first hand (experience of) history living in the historic center of the city.”

That community initially was Independence where Virginia grew up in a well-to-do family who owned and operated Jennings Furniture Store - a business that opened in 1941.

About the same time, Virginia (then a young school girl) and her family moved into an historic Queen Anne-style house located on the corner of Delaware and Waldo.

The house was built for Aaron Sawyer, a local banker - a named partner in the Chrisman-Sawyer Bank - and his wife Sallie. The couple raised two children in the home and Sallie remained in the house - beloved by neighborhood children - until her death in 1939.

Independence was a relatively small town of 15,000 and the house was within walking distance of the Independence Square - the center of the community.

David McCullough, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Truman, discussed the importance of the community in shaping the character of the future president and also its other inhabitants.

“To what extent was Harry S Truman the man he was, and thus the president he became, because he came from Independence,” McCullough asked in a 1993 talk given at a neighborhood church. “To what extent did the culture of this community, this small American town, so close by a burgeoning very American city, shape and direct this young man.

“The answer to the question is, of course, somewhat obvious. It shaped him. It shaped him a lot. What else is it shaping? How many others?”

Virginia like others was deeply shaped by the neighborhood and forged enduring relationships she retained her entire life.

In 1995, McCullough’s book was made into an HBO movie in which Gary Sinese played the Man from Independence. The Truman Home had been given as a gift to the National Park Service so the producers went looking for an alternative location.

Virginia graduated from William Chrisman High School - the original location - and went to Monticello College (UT), the University of Kansas and did graduate work at the well known Parsons School of Design in New York.

At one point, Virginia even taught art at her former high school. Nancy (Saunders) Steele, one of her students, shared this remembrance in an online condolence:

“What an inspiration she was — not because of what she revealed to us about making art, of which I remember almost nothing, but because of the way she was, and the way she treated us.

“Tall, elegant, and always soft-spoken, she looked directly into my eyes with a twinkle in her own eyes in a way that made me feel as though we shared a secret: that she could look beyond the uncertain, awkward, uneducated teenager that I was to see someone who was not only worthwhile but bursting with potential.”

She was involved in the family business. In 1979 she renamed it Jennings Interior and relocated to the Country Club Plaza.

“Having Virginia as my mentor and creative genius in her professional life has truly been a blessing for me over the decades,” wrote former Kansas City mayor Kay Barnes, in an online condolence. “Her vision and tireless dedication to helping so many achieve their dreams for their homes has been a remarkable gift to hundreds and hundreds of people.”

Virginia met folks through a variety of ways - the art scene, clients, civic endeavors and a wide range of relationships forged by graciousness, intellect and some you wanted to be around.

“Pure elegance. That is how to describe Virginia who exuded style, charm, intelligence, and whimsy,” said Eileen Weir, who is mayor of Independence and a past JCHS president.

“Virginia is the person you want to sit by at a dinner party. She was full of information and insight on current events, travel, art, history and much more. But mostly Virginia is a gifted listener. She is the one who in a meeting or at a social event looks you in the eye, and says, ‘What do you think?’”

She married Richard Nadeau - a therapist, preservation activist and advocate for mental health issues - who was legally blind. While Virginia was well-measured in tone and manner, Richard was vocal and boisterous and ready to share what he thought.

Historic Kansas City established an award in Richard’s name to recognize individuals and organizations willing to engage in preservation fights because the essential nature of advocacy “is the willingness to annoy people."

Jackson County Historical Society

The “willingness to annoy people” was clearly evident in 1987 when Virginia (with Richard’s support) played a key leadership role in a bitter controversy involving the Jackson County Historical Society.

There were two major contentious issues - the future of the archives and ownership of the historic John Wornall Home in Kansas City which JCHS had bought in 1964 for $35,000 and opened in 1972 after extensive renovation work.

The then board president and executive director wanted to transfer to JCHS’s extensive archives to the Missouri State Historical Society with likely storage in underground caves in Columbia, Mo making the archival material secure, but largely unavailable. That was the eastern front of the war.

On the western front was a strong desire, mostly Kansas City JCHS members, to spin off the John Wornall House and give it to an active group of volunteers who were operating the Greek Revival house museum located just north of the Brookside neighborhood.

“The Wornall House people think they personally have a vested interest in that building,” said former JCHS board president John Paxton in an article in The Examiner. “I certainly wouldn't be in favor of handing the house over to them on a silver platter. They should pay for it if they want it.”

The brewing controversies resulted in a highly unusual move - the recruitment of an eight-person “reform slate” to be nominated from the floor at the upcoming annual meeting. If the entire “reform slate” was elected it could effectively have a board majority.

Virginia was the natural leader of the group because of her strong ties and relationship with like-minded members in Independence and Kansas City.

The “reform slate” consisted of eight individuals who ran on a published platform raising concerns about membership, fundraising, financial management, communication and governance.

Virginia was the nominal leader of the “reform slate” that also included Sara Jane Aber, Susie Block, Ted Cauger, Carmelita Kinchie, John Paxton, Ben Weir and myself. Weir, the long-time publisher of The Examiner, coincidentally died the same day as Nadeau.

I remember meeting some of the other “reform” candidates - for the first time - in the home of journalist and local historian Sue Gentry who lived a block from Virginia’s childhood home which at that point was known as the Sawyer-Jenning home as designated on the US Bicentennial Plaque in the front yard.

This was my first involvement with JCHS - an enriching involvement that has continued to the present.

Normally the annual meeting was a quiet, perfunctory gathering - more of a social event with some organizational business conducted. But this annual meeting had more the trapping of a rambunctious, boisterous political gathering with about 200 in attendance.

The entire “reform slate” was elected, defeating several well-known and respected individuals whose names were offered rather late in the process by the Nominating Committee. At the annual meeting, the membership approved a motion restricting the JCHS board of directors from selling any property or research materials without a prior vote of the membership.

Virginia was elected the new JCHS president displacing the incumbent president whose actions and demeanor had given rise to the “reform slate”.

The controversy - while difficult and resulting in many strained personal relationships - helped reinvigorate the county historical society. Membership increased. A separate Friends of the Archives was established to raise funds to keep the archives in Independence which is still the case.

The new board also endorsed the concept of decentralization including the divestment of the Wornall House. That would take several years, but in 1999 JCHS approved a purchase agreement to sell the Wornall house to a separate Wornall House newly established organization. JCHS received $250,000 in the transfer and the passionate Wornall House volunteers achieved the autonomy long sought.

Virginia and Richard, themselves community volunteers, also appreciated the efforts of others and underwrote appreciation events for JCHS volunteers. They were memorable and lively occasions.

Virginia and Richard enjoyed a wide range of friendships, always lived close to the Nelson Atkins Art Museum, civically involved and active in Democratric politics.

She was well-connected and deeply respected.

Weir remembers attending a small dinner party at a home near the Nelson Atkins and not surprisingly Virginia invariably came up.

“The small group of guests – about 10 – soon fell into a game of ‘Six Degrees of Virginia Jennings’, said Weir. “The dining companions came from varied backgrounds but each one had a connection to the great Virginia Jennings.”

Many friends recount the joy traveling with the couple, particularly on international trips. Richard died in August 2010.

Laura Hockaday, journalist and society editor for the Kansas City Star, recounted "in traveling with Virginia, you never knew where you would end up but, no matter, she could solve any conundrum through her creativity and grace.”

Creativity, intelligence and grace. When Virginia entered a room, everyone noticed, and the fashionable hat on her head or tasteful scarf that perfectly complemented her outfit served as a reminder to everyone present that poise and elegance still have a place in today’s world. As a member of the Kansas City Star 40 Years Ago Club (local history group), she invariably had an insightful anecdote to share with the other guests at her luncheon table, no matter what the topic of that day’s program.

These are qualities that seem somewhat missing in our civic life and why Virginia will be deeply missed.

A video of her memorial service will be posted at "speakschapel.com" on Nov. 23rd. Here’s the full obituary.

Brent Schondelmeyer lives in Independence and is a past president of the Jackson County Historical Society.

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