Their individual stories are filled with elegance, benevolence and grace. Their combined legacy will far exceed their years of existence.
Who were Helen, Mary and Josephine Denny?
Their father was a prominent Waynesburg businessman, Eleazer Luse E.L. Denny. Their mother, Louisa Inghram Denny was a local philanthropist.
Mary, born in 1891 was just 19 when E.L. passed away in 1910. Three years later, WWI started, and like her mother, Mary devoted time to aiding in the war effort serving as the secretary of the local Red Cross chapter.
She attended Dana Hall and Briarcliff Manor Junior Colleges and earned bachelor of arts and bachelor of music degrees from Waynesburg College in 1914. In 1954 she was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters at Waynesburg.
Mary attended the Royal Academy of Music in London, England and the American School of Music in Fountainbleau, France. She studied musical composition with famed musicians Dr. Harvey Gual, Bernard Bocklemann and Nadia Boulanger.
Mary would become an accomplished pianist and composer. Two of her works, “Haven” and “A Prayer” are in the archives at many universities and colleges across the country.
It was Mary whose marriage would affect the rest of her family and afford them to live the Victorian existence they shared in later years.
That marriage was tied to the life of her sister, Helen.
Helen Denny, born in 1896, was perhaps the feistiest of the three sisters. She, too, was well studied in music as an opera singer and concert violinist. Helen sang with the Wheatcroft Opera Company and the touring company of the DeFeo Grand Opera Company.
In one of their Baltimore, Md., productions she held a leading role performing at Carlin’s Park. Helen also soloed for Dr. Wassili Leps, a Russian born composer and conductor with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
“It was while performing with the opera that Helen met Willis George Howard,” Toothman said. “Howard was married at the time and had four little girls but he was taken with Helen.”
Howard would soon leave his wife to be with her.
“Helen was to attend a grand ball in Chicago for the opening of what was billed to be the world’s greatest hotel,” Toothman said. “She invited Mary, who was single, to come with her.”
The sisters sat at a table with a recently widowed, Charles Weaver. Weaver was a very wealthy business man who had successes in the Chicago meat packing industry.
“He became smitten with Mary,” Toothman said. “They dated, married and Mr. Weaver would embrace the entire Denny family as his own and share in his financial fortunes with them.”
While Mary and Helen lived for many years in Chicago, Josephine primarily lived in their family home. She did make time for study abroad, learning French and art history at the University of Besancon, France, but it would be teaching that became her true love.
“Throughout her life she referred to her students as her lambs,” Toothman said. “She thought of herself as a sheppard.”
She never married and often told those who asked that all of her boyfriends died in France, making a reference to the war.
When Helen and Mary became widowed they moved back home. Mary would bring the furnishings from her Chicago home with her. The sisters, in their stately residence on W. High Street had the finest silver, crystal, hand woven rugs, and furnishings.
They had a full-time chauffeur who drove them to their many philanthropic endeavors in a Cadillac Fleetwood. They dressed in clothing from their many trips together to London, France and Paris.
“They were high society but not hoity-toity,” said Waynesburg Borough Police Chief Timothy Hawfield. “They liked to have nice things but they weren’t snobs. They did a lot for this community.”
Lasting impressions of their benevolence can be seen at Waynesburg University where a women’s dormitory, Denny Hall, is named for them.
The Greene County Historical Society Museum is a direct result of the labor of love of Josephine, who fought to save the building from demolition. Holdings in the library and much of the furnishings are those of the Denny sisters.
The Cherry Door and Waynesburg Social Service League are other endeavors of Josephine.
Helen, who was greatly involved in genealogical research left behind a bevy of work and many years of service to organizations that document family lineage. She traced her own family to the Magna Carta and William the Conqueror, among many others.
The sisters were known in circles all around the world. Mary counted Marjorie Meriweather Post, heir to the Post Cereal Co. as a friend and schoolmate. She and Charles lived down the street from Oscar Meyer in Chicago.
They all supported their own causes and each was a supporter of the Waynesburg Presbyterian Church, the Greene County Memorial Hospital and the Waynesburg College.
Trusts in their names are still listed all over the country.
It was hard to imagine from the outside that this was the life of these three women, whom many thought just to be eccentric.
Toothman would get to know them in their later years, after Mary had passed. He recalled Helen and Josephine as quite opposite of each other but nonetheless quite similar in their beliefs.
“Their support of the institutions was above personality,” he said. “They didn’t care about or involve themselves with the inner squabbles. They believed in giving of themselves and they lived that.”
