Richard M. Thayer, 84
Richard Moore Thayer, a Sagaponack resident and former member of the Sagaponack School Board, died at home last Thursday. He was 84.
Mr. Thayer was born on July 19, 1931, in Flushing, Queens, a son of Nathan Townsend Thayer and the former Grace Moore Sussdorff. The family summered on Job’s Lane in Bridgehampton, then, in about 1938, moved into a house they had built nearby on Paul’s Lane. His father founded Thayer’s Hardware on the hamlet’s Main Street. It remains in the family.
He graduated from Bridgehampton’s public school and went on to earn a degree in agriculture at Rutgers University.
He married his high school sweetheart, Betty Hildreth, in 1952, and they settled in a house on Sagg Main Street in Sagaponack.
Mrs. Thayer died in 2005, and Mr. Thayer married Georgia Hedges in 2007.
Following Rutgers, Mr. Thayer had tried his hand at farming, his family said, and then became more interested in dredging and dock-building and, later, excavation, doing business as Thayer Construction.
He also operated his own sawmill, cutting specialty wood for customers and for his own woodworking, which included making furniture for his family.
Mr. Thayer was a member of the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society. With members of his family, he liked to ride horses and drive horse-drawn buggies and take horse-drawn sleigh rides in the winter.
With a group of friends, he played pedro, a card game, at John Duck Jr.’s restaurant in Southampton, meeting about once a month. He and Mrs. Hedges Thayer frequently ate at the Fairway restaurant in Sagaponack and, when the weather was fine, headed for a swim at Sammy’s Beach in East Hampton.
He also enjoyed sailing on Mecox Bay in the summer and ice boating there and on Sagg Pond in the winter. He was a member of the Bridgehampton Club and an avid golfer, his family said.
“Whether he was swimming in the ocean, cruising the beaches, or plowing the fields in the spring, he loved Sagaponack,” his family said.
Two brothers, N. Townsend Thayer and Louis Thayer, died before him. In addition to Mrs. Hedges Thayer, he is survived by four children, Carrie Crowley, Richard Thayer, Robert Thayer, and Rebecca Wright, all of whom live in Sagaponack, as well as 3 stepchildren, 13 grandchildren, 5 step-grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren, and 3 step-great-grandchildren.
Mr. Thayer’s family has suggested donations in his memory to the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church Restoration Fund, P.O. Box 3038, Bridgehampton 11932.