Durie Malcolm

Florida woman known to have been married four times who was perhaps best known for rumors of a secret marriage to president John F. Kennedy and whose brief marriage was alleged to have occurred between the two at some point between 1938 and 1947 before Kennedy's marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier, in which it was reportedly denied and often refused to publicly discussed, but who was most recently married to the late philanthropist Francis Henry Appleton (d. 1996).

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Durie Malcolm Appleton, 91, died Monday, March 17, 2008, at her home in Palm Beach.

A longtime town resident, she was most recently married to the late Francis Henry Appleton, a philanthropist who died in 1996.

Mrs. Appleton was born Dec. 30, 1916, in New York, N.Y., to the late Frederick Kerr and Isabel Cooper Kerr, according to the funeral home. She took the name Malcolm from her stepfather.

Mrs. Appleton is known to have been married four times. But she was perhaps best known for rumors of a secret marriage to John F. Kennedy - an allegation she reportedly denied and often refused to publicly discuss. A brief marriage was alleged to have occurred between the two at some point between 1938 and 1947, before Kennedy's marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier.

While she was a young woman, Durie Malcolm's family vacationed at their Palm Beach estate, right across the street from the Kennedy property.

John F. Kennedy's father, Joe Kennedy Sr., allegedly had the records of his son's marriage to Durie Malcolm destroyed.

Rumors of the secret marriage surfaced while Kennedy was in the White House. His administration denied the reports, which were discarded by the mainstream media.

Before she was married to Mr. Appleton, she was married to and divorced from Firmin Desloge IV, F. John Bersbach and Tommy Shevlin, a deep-sea fisherman and big-game hunter.

Mrs. Appleton was a member of the board of trustees of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach from 1995 through 2003.

She is survived by a daughter, Durie Desloge Bullough, of London.

Quattlebaum Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

There will not be any local services.

The body will be cremated, the funeral home said.