Pauline Pfeiffer
- Born: July 22, 1895 in Parkersburg, Iowa
- Died: October 1, 1951 in Hollywood, California
- Met EH at Paris home of mutual friend Kitty Cannell
- Married EH on May 10, 1927
Pauline Pfeiffer was the mother of Hemingway's middle son, Patrick Hemingway and youngest son, Gregory Hemingway. Ernest and Pauline spent the majority of their years together at 907 Whitehead Street in Key West, Florida. Pauline had a very large pool built for the house, which supposedly cost $20,000, an extraordinary amount for a pool in the 1930s. When Hemingway heard the price, he is said to have taken a penny from his pocket, pressed it in the wet cement of the patio surrounding the pool, and exclaimed to Pauline: "Here, take the last penny I've got!" The penny is still present and pointed out by the Hemingway Home & Museum tour guides who tell the amusing story to visitors.
Pauline's death in 1951 at the age of fifty-six was sudden and unexpected and occurred after a heated conversation she had with Hemingway regarding Gregory's recent arrest in Los Angeles. Hemingway initially felt remorse for the events surrounding Pauline's death, but later in 1959, he described her passing to Tennessee Williams in a cold and detached manner: "She died like everyone else . . . and after that she was dead."
