Of Days Gone By

QUINTESSENTIALAMERICA BY BARBARA L. BENSON restless, Ernie borrowed a bicycle and got to an ad- vanced listening post when the Austrians discovered it and sent over a mine. One man was killed, another severely wounded, as was Ernie with hundreds of shell fragments in his leg and ankle. Nonetheless, he hoisted his wounded companion on his shoulders and made it back to the trenches. He was stiff-legged for the rest of his life from his wounds. He was un- identified in the field hospital until another of his fellow Red Cross drivers came along, whereupon Ernie was returned to Milan. He remained there recuperating from his wounds and illness long after his fellow drivers had sailed for home. Released from hospital, he wired Bill Horne to meet him when he arrived in New York early in 1919. They travelled together, caroused with their friends, and led the lives of carefree bachelors. Er- nie was heartbroken when Agnes von Kurowsky, the nurse he had fallen in love with in Milan, had broken Ernest Hemingway (standing on left) in Italy during World War I in 1918. He was 18 years of age and drove Red Cross off their engagement after he returned to America, Ambulances. He was severely injured from shrapnel while on the job. His friend from Chicago (later, Barrington) Bill but in 1922, he fell in love again and married Hadley Horne is standing fourth from the left, wearing glasses. Richardson from St. Louis. Their hearts were set on Europe, on joining that brilliant and cosmopolitan set that included American writers, artists, and so- cialites in Paris. Of Days Gone By Through the late ‘20s, even as their lives diverged, Ernie, restless, brilliant, now a confident personality; WHEN LIFELONG FRIENDSHIP TRANSCENDED FAME AND GENIUS, WITH QUIET ROOTS IN VIEW OF THE VALLEY Hemingway Returns When the JourneyCare Foundation holds its annual summer gala on June 24, in Style 2017, the theme will be “An Evening in the Hamptons” thanks to the style of the Bill Horne’s description of Ernie’s ap- residence which will provide the backdrop for the event. But for those who might pearance when he arrived in New York want to look beyond architecture and design, there is a story that begins in the on that January day in 1919, reveals that his European experiences had given a early years of the 20th century, when two young men joined 120 others, sailing in certain savoir faire to the still young man: 1918 to war-torn Europe to become Red Cross Ambulance drivers in Italy. “He was a darn dramatic sight. Wearing a Bersagliere hat with great cock feathers, URING THE 10-day crossING, Wil- There were other acquaintances of Hemingway enormous officer’s cape lined with red liam Dodge (Bill) Horne and Ernest on that war-time mission. He had left a cub report- satin, a British-style tunic with ribbons Hemingway began a friendship that er’s job at the Kansas City Star to join up, and Horne, of the Valor Medal and Italian War Cross, Dwould end only when the younger man found the working in advertising, and unable to join the regu- and a limp! The New York Times carried burdens of genius and fame too much to bear. For lar forces because of his poor eyesight, saw an op- a front-page story and picture, “Most over 40 years, through correspondence, shared vaca- portunity to serve his country. Travelling across Wounded Hero Returns Home Today.” tions, war and revolution, personal turmoil, world Europe to the Red Cross Ambulance Headquarters Heads turned as we walked uptown to travels, and several marriages for the one—and a in Milan, Bill and Ernie, and Ernie’s friends, were the Plaza to meet my current best girl for long and happy marriage, with a traditional family put in Section IV which became known as the Schio tea. When she saw Ernie she hardly even life for the other—there was a special bond that sur- Country Club. Asked to volunteer closer to the ac- said hello to me.” vived the tumultuous years of the mid-20th century. tion at Bassano, eight of them went along. Getting 58 • Quintessential Barrington | QBarrington.com The log books of Eschweiler’s work were found by the present owners in the basement, together with invoices for the purchase of plant materials from Watson’s Nursery then located south of Barrington. They had four children, and remained an- chored in the idyllic countryside northwest of Chicago. Both Bunny and Bill were prominent in community affairs. Occasionally there were visits to the Hemingways, especially at their houses in Cuba and later, Key West. Bunny Horne and Ernest Hemingway The groomsmen for Ernest Hemingway’s marriage to On one memorable occasion Bill and Bunny Hadley Richardson gather in Horton Bay, Mich. on Sept. 2, 1921. Hemingway is fifth from left, and his close friend had visited Bill’s parents in Cuba, and came back Hemingway and the Bill Horne is third from right. to Key West by way of the Havana Ferry. The Hornes Hemingways were not at Key West, but had de- Bill an erudite, sociable, advertising man, rooted in That Ernest Hemingway had visited camped to the Dry Tortugas. Invited to join them, a the Midwest, kept in touch through letters and occa- Barrington was a closely guarded and boat was procured and the Hornes set out for these sional meetings. One of the most significant times in unrecorded secret. Bill and Bunny Horne uninhabited cays 40 miles to the west. For the next their lives came in 1928. Ernie and his second wife, deeply respected this friendship, and that few days they fished, visited the bird sanctuaries, Pauline Pfeiffer, were planning a trip to the west, and reticence remains with the Horne Family cooked, ate on the boats, and slept in sleeping bags invited Bill to join them. Invitations included visits today. Only once did Bill tell the full story in the shed. to the Donnelly Family’s Folly Ranch, where Elea- of his friendship with Ernie, and that was The last time that Bill and Bunny saw Ernie and nor Donnelly was entertaining a group of her Bryn in the Memoir that he gave to Virginia E. his then wife, Mary, was in 1958, when they took Mawr classmates, among them Frances “Bunny” Moseley, and published in the Septem- two of their sons for an Easter vacation in Cuba. Thorne. Bunny kept a log of that summer of the ber 27, 1979 issue of the Barrington Hemingway had established residence years before story telling, card-playing, and songs-around-the- Courier-Review. He conveyed so well the at the Finca Vigia, San Francisco de Paula. Staying piano convivial evenings. A year later, she and Bill essence of the soul and personality of an nearby, the Horne family was welcomed daily chez Horne were married. extraordinary man who went from World Hemingway. Ernie was keeping an ascetic pace In the early 1930s, the Hornes moved to the Bar- starting work at 6 a.m. without breakfast, writ- War I ambulance driver, to the pinnacle rington countryside, purchasing a section of J.V. ing well into the early afternoon. Mary was very of writing achievement, earning a Nobel Watson’s Valley View Farm at 260 Otis Road, and protective of him. By then he was “Papa”, with a Prize for Literature in 1954. engaging the Milwaukee architects Eschweiler and beard, and all ladies were “daughters”. The letters Eschweiler to make improvements to a shingle style exchanged following that visit reveal the warmth of house built in the latter years of the First World War. Ernie had decided that his time in an increasingly this long friendship (see next page). troubled life was over. It was the year that Fidel Castro came to power Bill and Bunny flew out to Idaho, where Bill was in Cuba, and there was fighting at the eastern end an Honorary Pallbearer at the mountainside Catho- of the island. The Hemingways closed the house lic service, on a day of blue skies with the Sawtooth and moved to their residence in Ketchum, Idaho. Mountains in the background. For all his flaws, this From there, on July 1, 1961, news came to Bill magnificent man was mourned by the friends he in Horne, ironically attending a reunion of the old turn held close. In 1979 Bill Horne would say: “… Section IV friends in Glencoe, Ill., that their friend we were always very dear friends. We respected each other, regarded each other, loved each other in a way. Bunny is my pride and joy, and Ernie, they are the two great things in my life.” Barbara L. Benson grew up in Kent, England, and later moved to New York. She settled in Barrington ONNELL and has walked with C our history since she first AN MC S Bunny and Bill Horne in 1929 Bunny and Bill Horne in 1979. SU arrived here in 1980. QBarrington.com | Quintessential Barrington • 59 Valley View Farm was owned by J. V. Watson, who built the home during WWI. Bunny and Bill Horne were the second owners. Today, the home is owned by the Noyes family. Havana, Hemingway, and His Letters to the Hornes Ernest Hemingway owned a home in Havana from 1940 to 1960. His property was named Finca Vigia, meaning Lookout Farm. Here he is pictured in Ernest Hemingway’s letter from Havana (July 2, Havana in 1948. 1958) to the Hornes after their visit to Cuba. It talks about the Cuban Revolution.

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