Audrey Raebeck, Formerly of Amagansett, Dies January 31

Audrey Raebeck, formerly of Amagansett, died on January 31 at Peconic Landing in Greenport, where she had resided for over 20 years. She was 93.

Audrey Raebeck (nee Wuestman) was an educator with a particular specialty in early childhood reading. She obtained an undergraduate degree at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She married Donald Kelley in 1956 and had two sons with him. Those children, Christopher Kelley and David Kelley, reside in Springs in East Hampton.

She initially taught primary school grades specializing in reading education. She subsequently supervised student teachers in public schools in the Northport School District and, after divorcing her husband, eventually obtained her master’s degree in education from Adelphi University while working as a single mother.

While in graduate school, she met Dr. Charles Raebeck, a widower with six children, including Leslie (now deceased), Wendy, Barry, Terry, Heidi and Shelby (Skip) Raebeck. At the time, Charles Raebeck was chair of the Education Department at Adelphi University’s Suffolk Campus, which ultimately became Dowling College, where she also joined the faculty as a professor of education. They married in a Fourth of July costume wedding at his Amagansett home with the groom dressed as Uncle Sam and the bride dressed as the Statue of Liberty.

They were early organic farmers on their property on Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett and soon became environmental activists who helped found the Group for America’s South Fork (now Group for the East End) and were instrumental in the town’s adoption of its anti-grouper law, limiting house rentals to no more than four unrelated people. They were involved in numerous environmental battles over the years opposing development and supporting open space preservation and large-ot zoning. They initiated the “Halt The Highway” movement in opposition to the expansion of Route 27 east into a four lane highway and were anti-nuclear activists who were arrested in civil disobedience protests at the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant.

As much as she loved to spend time in her garden and enjoy the fruits of her labor in the kitchen, she loved the sun and the beach and was known to take her daily walks — year round — along the beach from Atlantic Avenue to the Napeague towers. Those walks were typically topped off with a dip in the ocean, regardless of the month or the water temp.

She also loved to cook and was renowned for throwing together, single handedly, feasts for all eight children and their offspring each holiday. In her later years, she took up painting, having trained under Ralph Carpentier, and captured local landscapes in her uniquely American Gothic style. She also trained in and practiced a spiritually based type of healing in the reiki style.

In the late 1970s, the couple retired from teaching and began a second career in education consulting, in addition to opening a bed and breakfast in their 19th century home on Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett, and with their house guests developed long lasting friendships. They immersed themselves in organic gardening, tennis, ocean kayaking, civic causes, leading a spirituality group and entertaining their numerous close friends. The couple later moved to Northwest Woods and then to Peconic Landing.

In addition to being survived by her children and five stepchildren, she is survived by 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her brother and three sisters.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that any donations be made in Audrey’s name to the Group for the East End (thegroup.org).