Bokara Legendre Obituary

Bokara Hennen Legendre MILL VALLEY, CA - Bokara Hennen Legendre died peacefully on December 3 at home in Mill Valley, California after a brief illness. She will be remembered for her exuberant personality, curiosity, love of adventure, courage and, most of all, her generosity to friends and the causes she believed in, including the Lincoln Center Theater, Tibet House, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, the New York Theater Workshop and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Her maternal grandfather John Sanford owned the Sanford and Sons Carpet Mills in Amsterdam, NY. His thoroughbred racing stable, Sanford Stud Farm, produced many notable winners, including George Smith, winner of the 1916 Kentucky Derby, and Sergeant Murphy, the first American-owned winner of the English Grand National. For the racing season, Sanford's horses were walked the 28 miles from Amsterdam to Saratoga Race Course, where the Sanford legacy is still celebrated through the annual running of the Sanford Stakes. Bokara's mother, Gertrude Sanford Legendre, grew up in the family house at 9 East 72ndStreet in New York and in Aiken. With her husband Sidney Legendre of New Orleans, she travelled the world collecting specimens for prominent museums of natural history. In 1930, the Legendres purchased Medway Plantation in Goose Creek, which "Bo" inherited upon her mother's death in 2000 and sold in 2012. As a child, Bo attended Charleston Day School where she told her schoolmates that she was actually a Russian princess who had been adopted by the Legendres. After graduating from the Foxcroft School for girls in Virginia, Bo began her own life of travel and adventure, which would rival her mother's. When she was not traveling she divided her time between New York City, California and Medway Plantation where she continued her mother's tradition of generous hospitality. Bo possessed the enthusiasm and courage to pursue her dreams. Full of determination, curiosity and will, she undertook and succeeded at a variety of careers. She worked in television in Washington, D.C. and Palm Beach, FL, performed in summer-stock theater on Cape Cod and later appeared as Sarah Bernhard at the Cafe; La MaMa in New York. She was an accomplished artist and writer. Her paintings were exhibited in galleries in both New York and California. She worked as a freelance journalist for several publications including the New York Times. Her autobiography, Not What I Expected, was published shortly before her death. At the Moth Theater in New York she performed a series of numerous monologues based on her life. She was a long-time member of the Board of Directors for The Paris Review. Bo's curiosity about all facets of life extended to spirituality, especially Tibetan Buddhism. In 1978 on the advice of a Tibetan Buddhist Lama living in New York, Bo went to the Himalayan country of Sikkim where she was ordained as a Buddhist practitioner. This was the beginning of her attendance at Buddhist centers, as a result of which she became an accomplished meditator. That she could carry out these spiritual activities while living a full life of philanthropy, travel and entertainment was characteristic of her love of adventure and meditation. She produced and hosted Lunch with Bokara, a 13-part television series on LINK TV in which she brought together notable teachers of many spiritual disciplines, many of whom were her close friends. After her first marriage to Richard Mack ended in divorce, she married Arthur Patterson, from whom she was also divorced yet remained close life-long friends. She is survived by her sister, Landine Manigault of Noank, CT, two nieces, two nephews, three great nieces and a great nephew. A memorial service is being planned for the new year. Donations in her memory may be made to any of the charities listed above. Visit our guestbook at www.legacy.com/obituaries/ charleston