JUDITH LAUGHLIN

1927 - 2020

LAUGHLIN--Judith Walker, died peacefully at her home in New York City on March 31 at the age of 92. She is survived by her husband of 73 years, Alexander Mellon Laughlin. Mrs. Laughlin was born on November 10, 1927 in New York City. She was the daughter of Nina Sebring and Delos Walker. She attended The Brearley School and Barnard College. Growing up, her family spent summers in East Hampton, Long Island. Upon her marriage to Mr. Laughlin she pursued her love of music and became involved in the Metropolitan Opera, first as a volunteer, then as a Managing Director and member of the Board. Many of her lifelong friendships were forged while she was fundraising for the Met and her love of the opera survived and sustained her all her life. Season tickets were bought and travel schedules planned a year in advance solely based on opera performances and their attendance. She was a member of the Womens Board of the Boys Club of New York. She served as a volunteer at their 110th street headquarters and remained an honorary member throughout her life. She was also a long-standing member of the Colony Club in New York. In the early 1980s, Mr. Laughlin was asked to join the prestigious Trustees Council of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., an institution built by his great-uncle, Andrew Mellon in the 1930s, later gifted to the nation. It began a decades long relationship between the couple and the gallery. It fostered both their love of art and public service. Several of the works on paper acquired by the Gallery were made possible by their generosity. Throughout their life together, she and Mr. Laughlin were avid collectors of art and knew many of the artists they collected. Summers were always reserved for time in East Hampton where they owned a home for over 70 years. Her love of gardening was a lifelong past time. She maintained a rose garden of hybrid roses and cultivated orchids in her greenhouse. It was in East Hampton where she said she was "truly her happiest". Playing golf at the Maidstone Club was a daily exercise where she was a keen competitor all her life. Besides gardening, she did acquire another passion of which she was very proud and that was fishing. Every June for 40 years, she and Mr. Laughlin would travel north to Quebec, Canada for the running of the Atlantic Salmon on the Moise River. Some years were fruitful and the family partook of their success with salmon feasts for months afterwards. Some years were leaner and fewer fish were caught. In the end, it didn't matter, June was reserved for the Moise, and to the Moise they would decamp. She was also an avid fly-fisherman, honing her angling skills in the far reaches of Montana, where a friend from the Met owned a small ranch bordering Yellowstone National Park. Every summer for 30 years the entire family would leave East Hampton and travel west to the wilderness for two weeks of fishing on Slough Creek. Her largest fish was caught there, a rainbow trout, weighing 5lb which she had mounted and proudly displayed in her East Hampton home. Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin also kept a home in the Bahamas for many years, first on Paradise Island (formerly Hog Island). In 1959 they moved to the western tip of Nassau to a then new development called Lyford Cay. They built a small house there overlooking Clifton Bay. There she would entertain friends and family with her famous dinner parties. Judy remained a hostess extraordinaire until the end; always beautifully dressed, full of interesting conversation, and most importantly delicious food. Judy is survived by her children, Nina Laughlin Bottomley (John) and David Walker Laughlin (Brooke); her grandchildren: Lisa Bottomley and Tim Bottomley (Lauren); Alixe and Bunny Laughlin; Alex and Julia Laughlin; and her two great- grandchildren, Wyatt and Lyle Bottomley. Her son Alexander M. Laughlin, Jr. (Mary) and her sister Nina Walker Wainright predeceased her. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Metropolitan Opera. A celebration of her life will be held at a later date.