Letters

I learned today that the Sag Harbor Ladies Village Improvement Society has closed up shop.

This brings back so many memories of my mother, Jane Mulvihill, and her good friend Gertie Payne, who were very active members in the 1950s and 1960s organizing house tours and raising money for, among other things, scholarships, establishing Marine Park, and planting trees throughout the village.

I remember riding around with Charlie Whitmore as he and Mom scouted locations for the trees. I was maybe 4 or 5 years old.

I have a photo of my sister Mary (8) and me (6) in the parade celebrating Sag Harbor’s 250th anniversary. The back of the photo says it was in 1957. My mother made us old-fashioned dresses, and we marched from Mashashimuet Park to the flagpole at the end of Main Street and then were pulled up onto the float for the ride to Marine Park. I’m pretty sure my mother made the banner. I wish I had a picture of the ladies on the float!

My father always made the LVIS Christmas party fruit punch, adding extra rum for good measure! No wonder Gertie’s husband, Stu, referred to them as the “Village Imps”!

I am so grateful to the LVIS for honoring my mother and Gertie with the lovely garden in front of the windmill, and I am sad that a great organization has passed into Sag Harbor’s rich history.

Carol Mulvihill Ahlers

Sag Harbor