Lucy Hayes Herron

Lucy Hayes Herron Laughlin Lippitt (November 8, 1877 – July 27, 1961) was an American socialite and amateur golfer.

**Early Life**

Herron was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1877. Her parents were John Williamson Herron, a lawyer, and Harriet Anne Collins Herron. Her older sister was Helen Herron Taft, who became the wife of President William Howard Taft and served as First Lady of the United States. Herron was baptized in the White House and was named after Lucy Webb Hayes, the wife of her father’s close friend and President Rutherford B. Hayes. Some sources cite her birth year as 1878 or 1879, including her tombstone; however, evidence suggests her birth and baptism took place in 1877, shortly after Rutherford B. Hayes’s election as President. Her maternal grandfather, Ela Collins, was a Congressman in the 1820s, and her maternal uncles William Collins and Isaac Clinton Collins held roles as Ohio state legislator and judge, respectively.

**Golf Career**

Herron was a dedicated amateur golfer and a member of the Cincinnati Golf Club. As a native of Ohio, she was considered a “Western” golfer and was noted for her skill on the putting green. Contemporary comments remarked on her “beautiful” and “quick, machine-like” swing. In 1897, she secured third place in the U.S. Women’s Amateur tournament. She won the Women’s Golf Association Trophy in Philadelphia in 1899. In 1901, she reached the finals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Baltusrol Golf Club, where she was defeated by Genevieve Hecker. Frances C. Griscom recognized her among the leading women golfers in the United States.

**Personal Life**

In 1903, Herron married Thomas McKennan Laughlin, a steel company executive and brother of ambassador Irwin B. Laughlin. Her husband committed suicide in 1910, leaving her widowed. They had two sons, William K. Laughlin and Thomas Irwin Laughlin. In 1911, she was rumored to be engaged to Archibald Butt, an aide to President Taft; she denied the allegations. Butt died on the RMS Titanic in 1912.

Herron married her second husband, Senator Henry Frederick Lippitt, in 1915. Lippitt was a widower, and their marriage produced two children: Frederick Lippitt, who later served as a congressman, and Mary Ann Lippitt, who was a pilot during World War II and later a proprietor of an aviation company in Rhode Island. Henry Lippitt died in 1933, leaving her widowed once more.

**Later Life and Death**

Lucy Hayes Herron Laughlin Lippitt died in 1961 in Providence, Rhode Island. Her estate was reported to be valued at approximately eight million dollars. She made substantial donations to various Rhode Island charities, including those focused on children, medicine, and culture. Neither of her children with Lippitt married; however, both were significant benefactors of Brown University, which awarded them the President’s Medal for their contributions. She is interred alongside her second husband and younger children at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence. Her notable nephews and nieces included Robert A. Taft, Helen Taft Manning, and Charles Phelps Taft II.

**References**

[The original references are not provided in this output.]

**External Links**

- Lucy Hayes Herron at Find a Grave