Laura Tuckerman Triest
Laura Wolcott Tuckerman Triest, just shy of 101 years old, died at her home in Annapolis, Maryland, on August 24. She had a summer home in Shinnecock Hills for many years.
Born on October 11, 1911, she was a fourth generation Washingtonian, born at her grandparents’ home in Washington, D.C. She was the daughter of Bethesda developer Walter R. Tuckerman and Edith Abercrombie-Miller. The family moved in 1912 to Bethesda. Walter Tuckerman gave a lot of land to the Burning Tree Club, of which he was a founding member. He was also instrumental in laying out the course for the Congressional Country Club. Ms. Tuckerman was the eldest of five daughters. She attended National Cathedral School. Later she attended La Casita in Lausanne, in Switzerland, and finished up at Oldfields School in Glencoe, Maryland, in 1929.
Her first memories were of stories about the Civil War. She remembered President Wilson’s inaugurations well among numerous other inaugurations. Her mother was very involved in relief and refuge organizations during World War I and World War II, and Ms. Tuckerman started early by helping to darn socks for soldiers. She remembered well parades for soldiers departing and returning from Europe during World War I.
Her life was filled with other memories, such as the laying of the cornerstone on a muddy piece of land that became the Lincoln Memorial, and the building of the National Cathedral.
Young Laura Tuckerman grew up knowing well the handful of embassies and legations in town. Her family’s Sunday open houses were major social events and friends and others with letters of introduction came every weekend. She spent almost as much time in New York with her de Peyster cousins as she did in Washington. Her circle of good friends was enormous.
During the Depression, she had a variety of jobs including working in a dress shop where she made $5 for a six-day work week. Lunch consisted of a 10-cent sandwich and a 5-cent cup of coffee.
In 1942, she joined Coordinator of Information and worked in the library in research and development. She was astonished to find out how poor our resources were involving detailed maps of the world needed to fight a two-front war. The office then became the Office of Strategic Services and one of her jobs was to screen female applicants for overseas posts. Besides Washington D.C., she was stationed in Cairo, where she worked as a telegraph officer among other duties, then followed the troops up through Italy, and was stationed in Bari and Caserta. When the war ended, she was assigned to Salzburg, and on August 6, VJ Day, to Vienna. She was possibly the first American female to enter the city during the Russian occupation.
Returning to Washington in November 1945, she transferred to the State Department, and in January 1946 went to Greece to observe the election.
In 1949, she joined Kim Roosevelt in the CIA’s new Office of Middle Eastern Affairs. In 1951, she met Willard Gustav Triest, who had moved to Annapolis from New York City to build the Route 50 bridge over the Severn River. While recovering from a very nasty accident on the bridge, Mr. Triest met Ms. Tuckerman at her home in Bethesda and they were married shortly thereafter and moved to Annapolis. She retired from the CIA in 1953.
Ms. Triest was a lifelong traveler. In the early 1930s, she went through the Panama Canal and flew around Central America in Stinsons and Sikorsky planes, and drove cross-country during the Depression. During WWII, she made a side trip to Jerusalem, and after the war, took an amazing solo trip through South America in 1946. She traveled for decades after that, and her last trip was throughout the Baltic when she was 89. She also loved to sail and spent decades with her husband on the Chesapeake Bay, in the Bahamas, the Caribbean, the British Isles and Italy.
Ms. Triest spent 10 years living at Ginger Cove, a retirement community in Annapolis, before moving home with her daughter and son-in-law in 2009.
Ms. Triest’s family started summering in Southampton in 1910 and bought their home in Shinnecock Hills in the 1920s. Her father was an avid golfer and walked from the house around both the Shinnecock and National courses every day. He won numerous tournaments including the first one at National when he had an upset win over the expected champion.
Ms. Triest and her family lived in Southampton until they sold their home in 1980. She was a member of the Garden Club of America in Southampton for decades. She was a member of the Colonial Dames of America, and in Annapolis, she was a charter member and on the first board of Historic Annapolis. She was active in the formation of and on the first board of the Annapolis Symphony. In Washington D.C., she joined the Women’s Committee of the Smithsonian when her old friend, Ms. Dillon Ripley started the committee. She was a member for the next 16 years.
Ms. Triest’s club memberships included the Bathing Corporation of Southampton, Meadow Club, Chevy Chase Club, Sulgrave Club and Annapolis Yacht Club.
Her husband, Willard Gustav Triest, died in 1989. She is survived by one sister, Alice Tuckerman Williams of Maryland; a daughter, Laura Wolcott Triest Wood; a son-in-law, Joseph L. Wood III; and granddaughter, Natalie Wolcott de Raismes Wood of Annapolis; two step-grandsons, Joseph L. Wood IV of Maryland and Timothy G. Wood of New York and their families; and four great-grandchildren. Along with her extensive family, she was blessed with 10 goddaughters. She was predeceased by three sisters, Edith Biays, Ruth Metters and Margaret Kauffman.
on Sep 7, 2012