Elsie Treleaven, 90

Elsie Lawall Treleaven came to know Amagansett as a teenager, when her parents had a summer house on Bluff Road. She learned to sail at the Devon Yacht Club and developed a deep love of the hamlet, eventually returning to live there with her family in the early 1960s.

“She cared deeply about preserving Amagansett’s natural beauty,” said her daughter Gwyneth Claiborne. “That’s why she got involved in the Amagansett Village Improvement Society.” She was president of the society for a number of years and also served on the Amagansett School Board.

Mrs. Treleaven died of congestive heart failure on Oct. 8 in Fairfield, Conn., where she had moved in recent years to be closer to family. She was 90 and had been in declining health for the past few months.

Born in Easton, Pa., to Frederick Lawall and the former Elizabeth Reeder, she grew up in Great Neck and graduated from Bennett Junior College in Millbrook, N.Y. After college she moved to Manhattan, where she worked at Seventeen magazine before meeting her first husband, Richard Dougherty, with whom she had a daughter, Lisa. The marriage ended in divorce, and she later married  Harry Treleaven Jr., with whom she had a son, Bruce, and a daughter, Ms. Claiborne. That marriage also ended in divorce. 

Her mother was “very inquisitive by nature,” Ms. Claiborne said. She was passionate about art and politics. A “very strong Democrat,” she had worked locally on behalf of a number of Democratic candidates.

She loved to read, said her daughter, especially at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett, and was an accomplished cook, able to prepare dishes from all over the world long before it became the fashion. Family and friends said they have fond recollections of her memorable cooking. She also lent her culinary talents to AVIS’s Summer Splash parties every year.

Adventurous outside of the kitchen as well, she traveled widely, with Italy and France among her favorite destinations.

In addition to Ms. Claiborne, who lives in Fairfield, Conn., she leaves her son, Bruce Treleaven of Montclair, N.J. Her daughter Lisa Dougherty died before her. She is also survived by two sisters, Janet Sass of Manhattan and Betsy Grant of Greenwich, Conn., and by four grandchildren.

A private ceremony with family and close friends will take place in Amagansett at a future date. Condolences can be left online at LeskoPolkeFuneralHome.com.