Sister Parish

Sister Parish (born Dorothy May Kinnicutt; July 15, 1910 – September 8, 1994) was an American interior decorator and socialite. She was the first interior designer brought in to decorate the Kennedy White House, a position soon usurped by French interior designer Stéphane Boudin. Despite Boudin's growing influence, Parish's influence can still be seen at the White House, particularly in the Yellow Oval Room.

Sister Parish was born Dorothy May Kinnicutt on July 15, 1910, in Morristown, NJ. Her parents were G. Hermann Kinnicutt and May Appleton Tuckerman. Sister was born at home in a four poster bed. Her paternal grandfather was Francis Kinnicutt, Edith Wharton's doctor and close friend. In addition to their New Jersey house, the family had homes in Manhattan, Maine and Paris. She was given the nickname Sister by her three year old brother Frankie.

As a child, Parish attended the Peck School in New Jersey in the fall and spring. During the winter, she attended Chapin in New York. Later, she boarded at Foxcroft School in Virginia. Parish was a debutante in 1927.

Once she had completed high school, Parish's parents expected her to marry. On Valentine's Day 1930, Dorothy May Kinnicutt married banker Henry Parish II at St. George's Episcopal Church in New York.

After the wedding, the couple lived on East End Avenue in Manhattan (in an apartment done by a decorator) followed by a farmhouse on Long Lane in Far Hills, NJ which Parish decorated herself. In decorating the Long Lane house, Parish found her own sense of style. She painted wood furniture white and used cotton fabrics such as ticking stripe. She experimented with brightly painted floors. Parish's new home was lighter and more casual than other high society homes of the 1930s.

The Great Depression tightened the family's finances and in 1933 the 23 year old opened a decorating business. Her Far Hills office measured 14 feet by 14 feet and cost $35 a month. Parish outfitted the room with wicker furniture and hung a sign that said "Mrs. Henry Parish II, Interiors."

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