| Lurline Matson Roth | |
| Birth Date: | September 3, 1890 |
| Birth Place: | San Francisco, California |
| Death Date: | September 4, 1985 |
| Death Place: | Burlingame, California |
| Education: | Miss Hamlin's |
| Spouse: | William P. Roth |
| Children: | William M. Roth Lurline Coonan Berenice Roth Spalding |
| Parents: | William Matson Lillie Berenice Low |
| Relatives: | Charles F. Spalding (son-in-law) |
Lurline Matson Roth (1890–1985) was an American heiress, equestrian and philanthropist from San Francisco, California. She competed in horse shows in the United States, and bred award-winning horses. She donated her estate, Filoli, to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Born Lurline Berenice Matson on September 3, 1890, in San Francisco, California.[1] [2] She was named Lurline after sugar magnate Claus Spreckels's yacht.[3] Her father, William Matson, was the Swedish-American founder of Matson, Inc., a shipping corporation.[1] As such she was an heiress to the Matson fortune.[4] Her mother was Lillie Berenice (Low) Matson (1864–1930).[3] She had two older brothers, Walter Joseph (1877–1926) and Theodore William Matson (1883–1936). The family wintered in a rented house in San Francisco and summered in a house near Mills College.[3]
She was educated at Miss Hamlin's, a private all-girl school in San Francisco, where she studied music and art.[3]
She competed in horse shows every year and won national medals.[5]
In 1924, her mother purchased the Why Worry Farm in Woodside for Lurline, where she bred horses.[1] [3] [6] She owned a five-gaited horse, a three-gaited horse, a Standardbred road horse, a Hackney horse, a Hackney pony and a jumper and hired a trainer, thus turning it into a show stable.[3] After she stopped competing, her horses won many equestrian awards.[1] Two of her best-known American Saddlebred horses were Chief of Longview (born at Longview Farm in Lee's Summit, Missouri) and Sweetheart on Parade.[3]
During World War II, she volunteered for the American Red Cross.[3] A decade later, in 1964, she renovated Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco with her son.[1] [4] [7] The renovation cost US$10 million.[4]
In 1975, she donated Filoli to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[1] [8]
She met William Philip Roth (1879–1963), a stockbroker from Honolulu, in 1913.[3] Even though her father was opposed to their relationship, they got married a year later in San Francisco, on May 27, 1914.[1] [3] They had a son, William M. Roth in 1916, and two identical twin daughters, Lurline Roth Coonan and Berenice Roth Spalding, in 1920.[1] [3]
They resided at Why Worry Farm with Lurline's mother, and they had another estate in Hawaii.[1] [9] [10] In 1937, they purchased Filoli, an estate in Woodside, California, from heir William Bowers Bourn II.[11] They often entertained guests at Filoli, including the pianist Ignace Paderewski and the aviator Amelia Earhart, who took her on a plane ride in 1937.[1]
After her husband died in 1963, she lived by herself at Filoli.[1] One of her daughters, Berenice, married Charles F. Spalding, an advisor to John F. Kennedy, television screenwriter, investment banker and heir to the Cudahy Packing fortune.[12]
She died on Wednesday, September 4, 1985, in Burlingame, California.[1] [2] She was ninety-five years old.[1]
Suzanne B. Riess . Lurline Matson Roth . Matson and Roth family history: a love of ships, horses and gardens . 1982 . Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley . 328 pages.