Ava Lowle Willing
Ava Lowle Willing, Lady Ribblesdale (née Willing previously Astor) (September 15th, 1868 – June 9th, 1958) was an American socialite and the first wife of John Jacob Astor IV.
Ava Lowle Willing was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Edward Shippen Willing (1822 - 1906) and his wife, the former Alice Barton. She had two siblings, Susan Ridgway Willing (Mrs. Francis Cooper Lawrence, Jr.) and John Rhea Barton Willing.
She married Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, son of William Backhouse Astor, Jr. and Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn, on February 17, 1891 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newlywed couple was given, among many lavish gifts and a furnished townhouse on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Though the marriage was tumultuous, the Astors had two children, William Vincent Astor (b. Nov 15th, 1891) and Ava Alice Muriel Astor (b. July 7th, 1902).
On November 19th, 1909; Ava sued JJ Astor for divorce and March 5th, 1910 the State of New York decreed in her favor. Their son lived with his father before leaving to attend Harvard University. Their daughter would be raised by her mother. In the second year of Vincent's education, JJ became one of the RMS Titanic casualties while returning from his honeymoon with his new bride, socialite Madeleine Talmage Force. This event left young Vincent as one of the wealthiest men in the United States. On August 14th, 1912; Madeleine would give birth to socialite John Jacob Astor VI.
In 1911, she and her daughter moved to England where she would become the second wife of Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale in 1919 (she was known as Lady Ribblesdale). Lister died on October 21st, 1925. Ava had no children from her second marriage, and she did not remarry. She later reclaimed her American citizenship after returning to the United States and she became known as Mrs. Ava Ribblesdale.
Ava died on June 9th, 1958 in New York City. She left a token bequest to her son, Vincent, but the bulk of her estate was left to her daughter Ava's four children: Prince Ivan Sergeyevich Obolensky, Princess Sylvia Obolensky, Romana von Hofmannsthal, and Emily Harding.
In Popular Culture[]
Although she did not appearing in person, her divorce from John Jacob Astor IV was mentioned several times in Titanic's popular culture, such as:
- In S.O.S. Titanic, when John wanted to introduce his new wife Madeleine to Ava's friend and fellow first class passengers Louise and Kate, they ignored John because they were still upset with John after his divorce from Ava.
- In the 1996 Miniseries, Hazel Foley mentioned Ava's name once, she was disgusted to Madeleine and refused to admit her as "Mrs. Astor", because she will only admit the first Mrs. Astor, Ava Astor.