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OBITUARY After serving together in the Pacific during WWII Jack and Jim, graduates of the Parsons School, were soon among the most sought after interior designers in New York. To provide the kind of sophisticated décor he aspired to for Nantucket, Walter "Bud" Beinecke brought the brothers to the island in the early 1960s and put them to work redecorating the Jared Coffin House, The Mad Hatter, and other signature properties. There had to be two of them to fulfill all the projects their generous hearts committed them to; at the Nantucket Cottage Hospital, the Flower Shop, and especially at the Unitarian Church. Jack designed the room named in their honor. Jim raised the money to pay for it. Three different congregations currently meet in Hendrix Hall. Refusing all assistance, the Hendrix brothers personally reupholstered all 999 feet of pew in the historic church. They did it, as they did so much else, as a gift. Jack and Jim left Nantucket to live with an elderly sister in their childhood home. Accepting of almost everything except intolerance and idleness they soon volunteered to restore Bill Clinton's boyhood home in Hope. The president's mother had been a classmate of theirs. With their usual conscientious attention to detail, they searched Arkansas for furniture, fabrics and even pots and pans that would have been in common use during the years President Clinton was growing up. After a brief return to Nantucket, the brothers, now unfortunately in failing health, finally retired to Key West in 2000 with their dog, Pequena. Jack is survived by his twin, James; four nieces, Katherine Payne, Bess Coleman, Mary Jane Stevenson, and Emily Austin; three nephews, Charles Payne, John Payne, and David Hendrix; and many, many friends. Memorial Services will be announced at a later date. The family has asked that donations in Jack's memory be made to Hospice of the Florida Keys or the Alzheimer's Association. I |
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