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Kevin McAllister, founding president of Defend H2O, speaking to the Southampton Town Board Tuesday night. GREG WEHNER
Susan McAllister of Quogue died on March 4 in Palm Beach, Florida.
Susan McAllister and her husband, Bruce, arrived in Westhampton Beach the weekend before their wedding in May 1972, looking for their first house in which to raise Susan’s three children, Elizabeth, David and Tony, age 11, 10 and 6, respectively, and to have a great life. She spent every summer there or in Quogue since then.
When her children had grown, Ms. McAllister bought the old “Nando’s” in Quogue, turned it into the Inn at Quogue, and introduced the Hamptons to Starr Boggs. That was to prove a joyful and productive partnership, at times “delirious,” survivors said. A friend and colleague, Phil Eberhard, wrote a song describing life at the Inn, called “Where is Starr?” Despite or perhaps because of their somewhat frantic openings, and with John Meyer at the piano, the Inn was a popular destination every summer weekend.
Ms. McAllister and Mr. Boggs, joined by Barbara McMahon, Sharon (then, Mirando) Conroy and Jeanne Wirth, acquired The Patio restaurant and made it a year-round, warm and laughter-filled gathering place.
In 1988, the AIDS crisis had struck and victims needed greater assistance than local health agencies were equipped to provide. Ms. McAllister had just bought Meadowcroft, the beautiful Conklin mansion and estate that overlooked Quantuck Bay. She conceived, and with the help of an untold number of area residents and New York decorators, interior designers and lighting consultants, organized and administered an East End Hope for Hospice Showhouse, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars leading to the care Hospice provides today on Eastern Long Island.
Ms. McAllister and friends repeated that accomplishment the next year at Kinkora, the O’Brien (nee Conklin) estate in Westhampton Beach, equally successfully. But, survivors said, she never felt a greater sense of fulfillment than on the night of the Meadowcroft opening gala, when her new-found decorator friends’ magic had turned Meadowcroft into an inspiringly beautiful Hospice celebration.
A memorial gathering will be held at Starr Boggs restaurant in Westhampton Beach on Sunday, May 15, from 2 to 5 p.m.
on Apr 25, 2016