Margaret Winifred Mackin of Springs dies at 85

Margaret Winifred Mackin

Margaret Winifred Mackin of Springs died on September 22 at her home. Fondly known to friends and family as Peggy, she was 85.

Born in 1925 to Sidney and Lillian Ethel Jones, she was raised with a brother, Thomas, and sister, Florence, in the Guggenheim Castle, now known as Sands Point Preserve. Her father was secretary/steward for Howard Gould and then Daniel Guggenheim after he purchased the 400-acre waterfront estate.

Mrs. Mackin loved caring for the polo ponies and race horses and would always help the kennel staff with the dogs. Among the many world leaders, dignitaries and celebrities that she encountered, she was there when Alicia Patterson and her husband Harry Guggenheim started Newsday; when Charles Lindberg sought refuge at the estate after his cross-Atlantic flight; and when Babe Ruth, along with Father Duffy, played the estate’s private golf course with estate pro Willie McFarland, who won the U.S. open by beating Bobby Jones.

After high school, she studied at Pace University in New York and then went to work in the personnel department at Macy’s Herald Square before marrying Jerry Mackin. In the mid 1950s, the couple acquired a family beach house on Gerard Drive in Springs, which they would visit by both car and cabin cruiser from Port Washington. They also owned a small island in Bar Harbor, Maine, used for summer vacation trips.

Later the family moved to Strong’s Neck in Setauket, where Ms. Mackin was employed by the Three Village School District in the library and front desk of Setauket School and volunteered at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson. In 1984, the couple purchased a second home in East Hampton where they both volunteered at the Montauk Lighthouse to work with the eel grass plantings that helped hold back erosion.

Upon her husband’s death, Ms. Mackin worked diligently to design and build a family compound to keep everyone close. She loved gardening, nature, beaches, walks and reading while sharing her time with children, grandchildren and friends.

She is survived by three sons and their spouses and partners, Robert Mackin and Donna Eddy, James and Jan Mackin, and Barry and Karen Mackin, all of East Hampton; three granddaughters, Jessica, Jenna and Melanie; and two grandsons, Wil Mackin and Travis Eddy.

Burial services, officiated by the Reverend George Wilson, were private. In lieu of flowers, donations to East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978 or the Springs Library, PO Box 1860, East Hampton, NY 11937-1633 would be appreciated by the family.