By the time Margaret "Daisy" Suckley died in her 100th year in 1991 at Wilderstein, her family's Hudson River home, the place was derelict. Today it is well on its way to becoming what it had been in its (and Daisy's) prime. So it was apt that the spirit of the young, fun-loving Daisy—not the friendly old lady many still remember, not even the mature confidante and possibly more (her intimate diaries! his tender letters!) to her sixth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt—prevailed on Saturday, June 6, as friends and supporters of Wilderstein gathered for a benefit tea dance. Young Daisy would have felt right at home with the jazz band, the immaculate vintage cars parked in the drive, the men in boaters, the ladies with dance cards (left), and the delicious gin-laced punch that was served, prohibition-style, in delicate tea cups. Inside the house, there is fresh evidence that Daisy's parents and grandparents were serious students of fashion. The tooled-leather wallcovering in the entry hall has been restored, and it is a knockout; the Frenchified formal reception room, despite its tatters, is flawless in every detail; and, now that a century of black cigar-soot has been removed from the library's artfully painted walls, it reveals itself to be one of the great rooms anywhere.
Event chairman Brian Lange with Ted Reynolds and Joy Gross
Jack Myers and Norah Burden with Peter Rockefeller & Allison Rockefeller (best dressed, in her flapper dress and cloche); Rural Intelligence blogger Carey Maloney & Hermes Mallea
Also beautifully attired, June Blum; caterer Dera Lee and Andrea Clair
Lyell & Valerie Dampeer; Ward McCormack Stanley
Artists Linda Filley and Ramon Lascano, with Papertrail's Maureen Missner; pianist Peter Tomlinson, vocalist Sal Maneri, and bassist Paul West of the Paul West Jazz Band
Jane Glucksman, Hilary Huntington, Ramon Lascano and Steven Connell; Bill Morris and the evening's honorary chairman Sam Hall.
Laura Pensiero, Edris Nichols, Dr. Rosemarie Ingleton, David Rudd, Toni Weeks, David Souers
Howard Zar, chair of next week's Bloomsday (June 13) celebration across the river in Athens, NY, Wilderstein Executive Director Greg Sokaris, and Geoff Howell; Chris Foreacre and Claire Longden
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Matteline deVries-Dilling, founder of Lite Brite Neon, one of the evening's honoree of this year's Upstate Benefit adresses the gala from the Caboose's caboose.
- Karen Pearson. Courtesy Art Omi.
Olana senior vice president and landscape curatorMark Prezorski, president Sean Sawyer, The evenings honoree Kristin Gamble and New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
- Oxygen House Photo
