Emmeline (Sands) Heppenheimer (1929-2012)

She grew up between New York City and Newport, R.I., and winters in the city. She was educated at the Chapin School in Manhattan before the family moved to the historic Sherman farm in Portsmouth, R.I., when she went to Miss Wheeler’s School in Providence. “She was a child of Newport,” said her son, William S. Heppenheimer. She was introduced to society in Newport in 1948 and married William C. Heppenheimer III (d.2009) on her birthday in 1953, on her birthday. 

Her son remembers coming to East Hampton as a young boy. “We were related to the Chauncey family through my father,” he said. “They built a house for my parents as a wedding present,” on Briar Patch Road. In the late ’70s, the elder Mr. Heppenheimer began the development of the 124-acre Cove Hollow Farm on Georgica Pond, and the family moved to their East Hampton house year round. Mr. Heppenheimer eventually became President of the Maidstone Club, where his wife was esteemed as a fine golf and tennis player. She also belonged to the Colony Club in Manhattan and the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. “She was a very talented artist,” said Mr. Heppenheimer. “She loved painting animals and doing découpage. She was in charge of the decorations at the Maidstone... Our door was always open,” he added. “All my friends adored her. She loved gardening and cooking and children.” After their own two children grew up, the Heppenheimers adopted Labrador retrievers.