In Memoriam: Holly Peppe (1950-2026)Millay Literary Executor and Trustee

The Millay Society at Steepletop deeply mourns the loss of Holly Peppe, who served as president of the Society from 1986 to 2001, and as literary executor of Millay’s work from 2012 to 2026. Following Holly’s death on April 27, many have shared with us their sorrow, as well as their memories of the role Holly played in their lives. With the contributors’ permission, we share their writings as a tribute to this singular woman, whose friendship enriched so many lives, along with photographs of Holly over the years as she passionately pursued the mission of The Millay Society: to foster appreciation of the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay and to preserve the poet’s literary legacy.

Holly PeppeTributes

Meeting Holly in 2013, when I was preparing my book proposal for a biography of Millay for young readers, changed my life. She read my proposal and granted me permission to use as much material from Millay’s writings as I needed. Then she invited me to a dinner of fellow Millay lovers—an evening when I first understood what people mean when they say, “I finally met my tribe.” Holly welcomed me into the tribe, which soon became a rich and vital community for me.

A few years later, when my book was being readied for publication, she agreed to vet it for accuracy. Little did I know this would mean hours going over the manuscript line by line together—after her initial independent reading. This was my first experience of editing with Holly, something I was lucky to do often over the following ten years. After my book was published, I was thrilled and honored to be invited to serve as a trustee of The Millay Society. In that role, I worked closely with Holly, both preparing written Society materials and vetting other writers’ manuscripts. Working with words with Holly was a joy: she was thoughtful and diligent, humorous and honest. Over the years, we discovered we never disagreed about good writing and good editing standards.

Holly was a loyal supporter of many people’s work, attending performances, book launches and any event at which Millay’s life and work were featured. She radiated warmth and kindness; she made everyone she met instantly feel like a close friend. I’m deeply grateful for her presence in my life and for the many meaningful moments we shared. I miss her deeply.

---Krystyna Poray Goddu, author, A Girl Called Vincent: The Life of Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay; literary officer/secretary, The Millay Society

Like many others, I first met Holly because of our shared interest in Edna St. Vincent Millay. I was immediately struck by the knowledge, passion, and professionalism she brought to her work for Steepletop. It was a special pleasure for me to work with her on two Millay exhibitions, one at Vassar College, and one at Steepletop. Holly was also of course an important scholar of Millay and 20^th century literature in general, and her books will remain crucial works for researchers. What is more, her own works of poetry are poignant and deserve a wide readership. But beyond all of this, and what I remember most, is Holly’s genuine kindness and lighthearted humor in each of our dealings. Indeed, this is something that it seems everyone who came in touch with her felt. In so many ways she leaves a wonderful legacy.

Ronald Patkus, Head of Special Collections and College Historian
Adjunct Associate Professor of History on the Frederick Weyerhaeuser Chair
Vassar College

There are so many things that can be said of Holly Peppe, it could fill an afternoon. Quick in wit and powerful in judgment and observation, she was lovely as a swan and the smartest person in the room. She was simultaneously vulnerable and gritty, brave, strong-willed, and filled with grace. She went toe to toe with Norma and passed every test in proving her worthiness. Because she was worthy. Ten thousand times worthy. Starting as a graduate student writing a dissertation, memorizing poems, modeling Millay’s dresses, and spending time at Steepletop with Norma, she became over time an integral part of the fairy circle that was Edna St. Vincent Millay’s remarkable poetry and life. For Holly was remarkable, too. No one came to know Millay’s work better than she. No one was a better emissary, or guardian of the gate post. She fostered appreciation and knowledge of Millay to ever widening audiences. I personally will see her in my mind’s eye at the Steepletop garden in bloom, at the meadow beyond the hut at twilight, where she and I stood together one evening, watching the light change as the sun lowered in the sky, or sitting shoulder to shoulder with me as we read Cora and Norma’s writings together before they came to the Library of Congress to be made available to researchers. Millay wrote in “Elegy”: “Of the secret earth restore,/ All your lovely words are spoken. / Once the ivory box is broken, / Bears the golden bird no more.” But Millay, dare I say it, was mistaken. The golden bird flies on. Holly flies on in every introduction she wrote; in the group efforts toward the preservation of Steepletop, surrounded by snow or green grasses; in every Millay project she helped to foster---the edited collections, exhibits, films---in all her inspiring work and endless dedication. She flies forth In our world and beyond us--in her words, conjoined with Vincent’s.

---Barbara Bair, curator, The Edna St. Vincent Millay Papers, Library of Congress

Dearest Holly.

I will remember always her spark and intellect, her gentle way, her warmth and humor, her lovely smile. I am grateful for how she touched my life and all the moments and laughter we shared over the years. She made the world a brighter place and I will miss her.

--- Anina Rossen, former trustee

Holly always brought her bright light to Steepletop. My pleasure to have known and worked with her. Blessings.

---Prescott Haley, Steepletopc caretaker

I feel incredibly fortunate that I got to experience Holly's presence as a trustee with the Millay Society. She welcomed me with open arms as a new member in 2019. At the end of board meetings, she would recite a Millay poem or share a bit of gossip about Millay's life, and I relished hearing Millay come alive through Holly's recollections. She had a wonderful way of connecting with people and making them feel fully seen. What a gift she has been to the world!

---Lora Woodward, trustee

In my young adulthood, I got to know Holly because she became deeply enmeshed in the world of Norma Millay and, by extension, my mother Elizabeth Barnett, Roscoe Lee Browne and Steepletop.

Because of her decades of devotion to preserving and promoting Edna St. Vincent Millay and Steepletop, she has an enduring legacy with The Millay Society which we are very grateful for. As literary executor, she shepherded numerous volumes of Millay’s works to publication including the reprinting of Millay’s Collected Poems and, recently, Millay’s diaries and letters, and supported numerous writers, artists, and institutions in their endeavors to bring Millay to light....

In the middle of the summer of 2006, while a student, I wrote to Holly asking if I could talk with her about Millay research. Holly's response that same day was one I grew to know and admire, as she wrote in part, "happy to assist if I can." For two decades, Holly happily shared stories and thoughts about Millay and her world with me. I hear Holly's voice so often when reading Millay's poetry. Holly's love of poetry is always first and foremost a love and care for others.

---Timothy Jackson, editor, Selected Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Into the World’s Great Heart: Selected Letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay

I first met Holly in 2011 at Joe’s Pub in New York, at the CD release for The Edna Project. She was sitting with my manager. A few songs into the set, Holly reached over, took her hand, and whispered, “She gets it.” To hear that from Holly was the ultimate affirmation.

I was immediately smitten with this brilliant woman who was the true authority on my muse, Edna St. Vincent Millay. Finding Millay’s work was a profound turning point in my life, but perhaps the greatest gift she gave me was leading me to Holly....

It was with great sadness I learned the news of Holly’s passing. What a brilliant, thoughtful and generous woman and scholar she was.

Nine years ago, as I was preparing my book Blood Too Bright – Floyd Dell Remembers Edna St. Vincent Millay for publication, I met Holly for the first time in New York City. I see us now, sitting at lunch, heads together, sharing our stories about Edna Millay. During our visit not only did she reassure me I’d have the permission I needed to quote some of Millay’s poems in the book, but she also offered to write a blurb for me. I was honored that as busy as she was, Holly would take the time to this this for me....

Holly and I were devoted to each other—and to so many ideals we somehow managed to address and serve for many decades.

The most conspicuous was our shared passion for Edna St. Vincent Millay's poetry. After Elizabeth Barnett stepped down as executor of the Millay estate, Holly and I found ourselves in continuous and delightful contact and collaboration, on so many projects. We rarely disagreed about anything. I hardly know how to begin talking about this. But I suppose the culmination of it was the publication of Millay's diaries, a project that she and I knew I had wanted to edit for decades. She made it happen, finally.

On a more personal level, Holly was constantly an advocate of my many-sided career as a playwright and poet. When Jefferson and Poe was produced at Symphony Space at the beginning of this century, it was Holly who guided the P.R. for the complicated project.

And it was Holly who produced, with amazing spontaneity and passion, the film Cruel April: Poems from the Pandemic, with Tyne Daly, Paul Hecht, and other stars, that has been viewed by tens of thousands of viewers.

I could go on and on about Holly, but the thing I want to emphasize is her generosity of spirit. Millay benefited from that, and so did all of us in the artistic community.

---Daniel Mark Epstein, author, What Lips My Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay; editor, Rapture and Melancholy: The Diaries of Edna St. Vincent Millay

When I first met Holly at a Millay event shortly after joining the Board of Trustees, I immediately sensed that we would share a special friendship. She was kind, gracious, witty, and genuinely warm and welcoming. Holly attended the event with her partner, Hadley, while my husband, Michael, accompanied me. Michael and Hadley connected instantly, and over the years Holly and I affectionately came to refer to them as “the Millay Widows.”

As the years passed, I came to appreciate the extraordinary life Holly had lived — a life marked by dedication, curiosity, and purpose. She seemed to know everyone interesting, and wherever she went, she became a force for connection and inspiration. Together, we traveled in support of the Millay Society, building relationships, organizing events, arranging speaking engagements, and curating exhibitions that helped spread Millay’s legacy to new audiences.

Beyond our shared work, Holly and Hadley became dear friends. One especially treasured memory is spending New Year’s Eve together at our home in the foothills of the Berkshires. Holly’s generosity and compassion were perhaps never more evident to me than after the passing of my husband, Michael. She stepped forward without hesitation to help craft his obituary and thoughtfully selected and read poetry at his Celebration of Life service.

Holly’s untimely death is a profound loss to the Millay Society, a heartbreaking loss to my dear friend Hadley, and a loss to the wider world, which is now without one of its truly remarkable souls.

Mark O’Berski
Vice President / Treasurer, The Millay Society

I first met Holly at a meeting in the Thompson Memorial Library at Vassar College in the fall of 2016 to plan a joint exhibition at Vassar and Steepletop to celebrate the centennial of Millay’s graduation the following year. I was impressed at that meeting by Holly’s deep appreciation of Millay’s poetry. As I have learned subsequently, this was a sensitive, scholarly, well-grounded, and wholly positive critical assessment of Millay’s work, uncommon even today in academic circles still suffering from the patriarchal residue of mid-20th-century modernist literary scholarship. I recall as we walked out of that meeting telling Holly how pleased I was that Millay was finally going to get some air-time at Vassar, where she had long been displaced by our second Pulitzer-winning poet, Elizabeth Bishop–a text-book modernist more palatable to the academic status-quo. I added my own readerly opinion that Bishop doesn’t hold a candle to Millay as a poet, no matter how many ends are lit. Holly and I bonded at this moment when she made it plain that she was in complete agreement, before we went on to talk about Mary Oliver, Vassar’s third poetry Pulitzer-winner, underappreciated as well inside the classroom, although like Millay well-loved beyond....

Some people arrive in your life by accident; others arrive with the unmistakable force of destiny. Holly came to me through one of those strange six-degrees-of-separation convergences. In the same week in May 2019, two friends from entirely different social circles and geographically far apart, urged me emphatically: “You HAVE to speak to Holly Peppe!” By then, Edna St. Vincent Millay had already taken hold of my imagination. A rainy Saturday visit to Steepletop to see a performance of The Millay Sisters had opened the door. Reading Savage Beauty soon afterward only deepened the obsession. As a documentary filmmaker drawn to the lives of extraordinary women neglected by history, I found myself mesmerized by Millay’s contradictions, brilliance, and fierce humanity. A film had already begun to form in my mind. Then Holly appeared, almost as if summoned. Our connection was immediate and profound. Holly’s knowledge of Millay was immense, but it was her spirit—her warmth, wit, and generosity—that made every conversation unforgettable. Talking with her felt like standing inside a shower of sparks: ideas flying, stories unfolding, laughter erupting between moments of deep reflection. We dreamed together. We invented scenes. We followed trails of thought wherever they led. And always, we laughed. Even while confronting the limits of time, Holly radiated an irrepressible joy for life. Her stream of insight and enthusiasm continued nearly until the end, only quieting in the final weeks before her untimely death. But the dialogue itself endures. Holly left behind momentum, purpose, and unfinished work. There is still much to do—for her, and for Millay.

Sabine Krayenbühl

Documentary Filmmaker