Tweet Kimball

Mildred Montague Genevieve "Tweet" Kimball (14 June 1914–16 January 1999),[1][2] was an American rancher, art collector, and heiress who owned and lived on the 3,400-acre (1,376 ha) Cherokee Ranch and its associated castle north of Sedalia in Douglas County, Colorado, from 1954 until her death.

Born to a wealthy Tennessee family and raised in Chattanooga, Kimball moved to Colorado following her divorce from diplomat husband Merritt Ruddock.

Kimball also accumulated a preserved collection which includes 14 original architectural drawings by Christopher Wren, a Queen Anne desk, and two first-edition sets of Winston Churchill's works.

Kimball would attend Bryn Mawr College and marry diplomat and OSS operative Merritt Ruddock, with whom she would adopt two sons: Kirk and Richard.

After World War II, Merritt was stationed at the American embassy in London, leading Tweet to develop relationships with monarchs and other political figures.

Among her collection are 14 architectural drawings by Christopher Wren, paintings by Thomas Gainsborough and Peter Paul Rubens, and a Queen Anne desk.

[4] Her actions also preserved the Cherokee Ranch petrified forest, which has remained relatively untouched by human predation in part due to the property's private ownership.