Anna C. Mott, 91
Anna Clark Mott, whose family house was at one point the closest dwelling to the Montauk Lighthouse, died on May 16 at Southampton Hospital surrounded by her family. She was 91.
Born on Nov. 20, 1919, to Gladys Marie Hedges and Wilson Glover Hedges, she grew up in a house on the north side of Montauk Point built by her grandfather, Capt. Joe Clark, who was a fisherman. Mrs. Mott’s grandmother had a restaurant on the bluff between their house and the Lighthouse, and as a young woman, Mrs. Mott enjoyed working alongside her grandmother and mother in the summers. She would reminisce to her family about her time spent cartwheeling down the Lighthouse hill, roller-skating on the hilly roads, and playing basketball in the barn built by Captain Clark.
A letter on display at the Lighthouse and written by a former keeper’s daughter mentions Mrs. Mott and her family.
Mrs. Mott married George Lewis Mott from East Hampton in 1937, and was later divorced. They had four daughters, Ann Sandstrom of Southampton, Geri Boyle of Sag Harbor, Patricia Mott-Intermaggio of Southampton, and Connie Mott-Hopping of Bridgehampton, who survive her, as do 10 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Mrs. Mott always loved the ocean, a love passed down through the generations. Another grandfather, Capt. Carl Hedges, was one of the original founders of the Life Saving Stations built to help shipwrecked passengers.
Mrs. Mott raised her four daughters and spent much of her adult life as one of four generations under the same roof in a house on Narrow Lane in Bridgehampton that Captain Hedges had built. She moved in with her daughter, Mrs. Boyle, about two years ago, when she was almost 90.
In addition to raising a family, Mrs. Mott worked caring for the sick, homebound, and dying. According to Mrs. Boyle, Mrs. Mott was “a class act” and “greeted every moment of her life — be it sorrow, pain, or glee — with a loving smile and incomprehensible gratitude.”
No matter what happened in life, she told her family, “Hold your head up high and put a smile on your face.”
A funeral service was held at the Southampton Methodist Church on May 20.