Enez M. Whipple, who as the executive director of East Hampton's Guild Hall for nearly 40 years won the respect and affection of artists, musicians, poets, actors, and playwrights, as well as their admirers and patrons, died at home on Huntting Lane in East Hampton of cancer early Sunday morning. She was 89.
When Mrs. Whipple arrived in East Hampton in 1941, her husband, E. Warren (Whip) Whipple, an artist and cartoonist, was a member of Guild Hall's board and its summer director. He stepped down two years later, and the job was hers - at the behest of Mary and Lorenzo E. Woodhouse, whose generosity had built the cultural center more than a decade earlier.
Called Unique
"There wouldn't be a Guild Hall today without her," said Robert Menschel of Amagansett and New York, a longtime board member. "I don't think anyone but Enez could have balanced all the diverse elements - Bonackers, weekenders, Maidstoners, artists, writers, year-rounders. She was unique."
Conceived as a home for community theater, combined with meeting spaces and a gallery for local art, Guild Hall under Mrs. Whipple's leadership would move away from what the artist Alfonso Ossorio once called "a plaything for the rich," who took tea from polished silver in a setting carpeted with pink broadloom.
By contrast, Mrs. Whipple was devoted "to encouraging activities that blended the arts with community programs on many levels."
Unassuming Stance
Mrs. Whipple, however, attributed the center's success to the community itself.
As she wrote in the preface to her 1993 book, "Guild Hall of East Hampton: An Adventure in the Arts," "Guild Hall couldn't have happened just anywhere. It needed the kind of land and seascapes that could seduce artists; it needed a city like New York nearby to nourish it, and, most of all, it needed the dedicated people who have made it the exemplary cultural center it is today."
Calling her a "tireless and brilliant community 'cultural treasure,' " Guild Hall's Academy of the Arts last year dedicated the annual dinner journal for its major fund-raising event to her.
"She had great people skills," said Budd Levinson, who as a two-term board chairman enhanced the center's fund raising. "She never asked anything for herself," he added.
Guild Hall became "the focal point for the whole South Fork for cultural, intellectual, and entertainment activity," Joan Davidson, a former chairwoman of the New York State Council on the Arts, said when Mrs. Whipple retired in 1981, its 50th anniversary.
That year, more than 100 artists donated work to the Enez Whipple Print and Drawing Collection, part of Guild Hall's permanent art collection.
"Guild Hall provided a profound fulfillment in Enez's life," Mr. Whipple, whom she married on Aug. 28, 1939, said yesterday.
Life And Work
Indeed, Guild Hall's history and Mrs. Whipple's life here were inextricably entwined.
For several years after first coming to East Hampton, Mrs. Whipple directed the Guild Hall Players, an amateur group and the only one at the time to use the center during the winter. In 1948 she produced a re-enactment of local history with some 500 citizens for East Hampton's tricentennial anniversary celebration.
Two years later, she became Guild Hall's first full-time, paid staff member.
Mrs. Whipple was at the helm when Guild Hall's first annual invitational exhibit, "Artists of the Region," was mounted in 1949.
High Points
It included Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Balcomb Greene, and Ray Prohaska. In 1951, "A Historical Survey of American Art" brought the work to Guild Hall of such greats as Gilbert Stuart and Edward Hopper.
During the years when Senator Joseph A. McCarthy and other conservative voices gained attention, she blunted an effort by a group called the East Hampton Protective Committee to close down the summer theater. The group's members claimed the plays attracted "objectionable elements" to the community.
In 1958, Berton Rouech‚, the New Yorker magazine writer and longtime board member, created a tribute to poets and writers in the early spring, which was a sellout. Readings by writers subsequently became a staple on the center's annual calendar.
In The Theater
In 1960, Mrs. Whipple brought the American Association of Producing Artists, directed by Ellis Raab and Rosemary Harris, to Guild Hall. The following year, the Phoenix Repertory Company in collaboration with the A.P.A. staged such productions as "The Seagull," "School for Scandal," "Summer and Smoke," and "Man and Superman."
The Yale Repertory Company's "story theater" took over the theater for two seasons in the 1970s. Edward Albee and Richard Barr are among those who have directed John Drew Theater productions. Its stars have included Helen Hayes, Lillian Gish, Olivia DeHavilland, Anne Jackson, and Eli Wallach.
Film, educational workshops, and children's classes all became part of the Guild Hall's offerings.
A Columnist Too
Born in Syracuse, N.Y., on Oct. 6, 1910, Mrs. Whipple was a daughter of Lino Scusa and the former Louise Ferrari. She grew up in Phoenix, N.Y., studied journalism, and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University. Later she did graduate work in dramatics. She received an honorary doctorate from Southampton College in 1981.
Before coming to East Hampton, Mrs. Whipple taught school briefly and worked on a trade journal in New York City. She also wrote a column, "Know Your Neighbor," which appeared in The Star in the early 1940s.
She was a member of the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society and the East Hampton Historical Society.
Inspiring Leader
Besides her husband, Mrs. Whipple leaves a brother, Paul Scusa of Marathon, Fla., and Henderson Harbor, N.Y.
East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. was among those who eulogized Mrs. Whipple at a funeral at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Tuesday. The Rev. Donald J. Desmond officiated. Burial followed in Cedar Lawn Cemetery here. Memorial donations have been suggested to Guild Hall.
"She was an inspiring leader under whom Guild Hall flourished and who helped East Hampton achieve its enviable stature as a place where the arts and community ideas are respected and nurtured," Robert S. Greenbaum, a former Guild Hall board chairman, said this week. She was "an elegant and talented lady with superb taste."
East Hampton Star 23 December 1999
When Mrs. Whipple arrived in East Hampton in 1941, her husband, E. Warren (Whip) Whipple, an artist and cartoonist, was a member of Guild Hall's board and its summer director. He stepped down two years later, and the job was hers - at the behest of Mary and Lorenzo E. Woodhouse, whose generosity had built the cultural center more than a decade earlier.
Called Unique
"There wouldn't be a Guild Hall today without her," said Robert Menschel of Amagansett and New York, a longtime board member. "I don't think anyone but Enez could have balanced all the diverse elements - Bonackers, weekenders, Maidstoners, artists, writers, year-rounders. She was unique."
Conceived as a home for community theater, combined with meeting spaces and a gallery for local art, Guild Hall under Mrs. Whipple's leadership would move away from what the artist Alfonso Ossorio once called "a plaything for the rich," who took tea from polished silver in a setting carpeted with pink broadloom.
By contrast, Mrs. Whipple was devoted "to encouraging activities that blended the arts with community programs on many levels."
Unassuming Stance
Mrs. Whipple, however, attributed the center's success to the community itself.
As she wrote in the preface to her 1993 book, "Guild Hall of East Hampton: An Adventure in the Arts," "Guild Hall couldn't have happened just anywhere. It needed the kind of land and seascapes that could seduce artists; it needed a city like New York nearby to nourish it, and, most of all, it needed the dedicated people who have made it the exemplary cultural center it is today."
Calling her a "tireless and brilliant community 'cultural treasure,' " Guild Hall's Academy of the Arts last year dedicated the annual dinner journal for its major fund-raising event to her.
"She had great people skills," said Budd Levinson, who as a two-term board chairman enhanced the center's fund raising. "She never asked anything for herself," he added.
Guild Hall became "the focal point for the whole South Fork for cultural, intellectual, and entertainment activity," Joan Davidson, a former chairwoman of the New York State Council on the Arts, said when Mrs. Whipple retired in 1981, its 50th anniversary.
That year, more than 100 artists donated work to the Enez Whipple Print and Drawing Collection, part of Guild Hall's permanent art collection.
"Guild Hall provided a profound fulfillment in Enez's life," Mr. Whipple, whom she married on Aug. 28, 1939, said yesterday.
Life And Work
Indeed, Guild Hall's history and Mrs. Whipple's life here were inextricably entwined.
For several years after first coming to East Hampton, Mrs. Whipple directed the Guild Hall Players, an amateur group and the only one at the time to use the center during the winter. In 1948 she produced a re-enactment of local history with some 500 citizens for East Hampton's tricentennial anniversary celebration.
Two years later, she became Guild Hall's first full-time, paid staff member.
Mrs. Whipple was at the helm when Guild Hall's first annual invitational exhibit, "Artists of the Region," was mounted in 1949.
High Points
It included Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Balcomb Greene, and Ray Prohaska. In 1951, "A Historical Survey of American Art" brought the work to Guild Hall of such greats as Gilbert Stuart and Edward Hopper.
During the years when Senator Joseph A. McCarthy and other conservative voices gained attention, she blunted an effort by a group called the East Hampton Protective Committee to close down the summer theater. The group's members claimed the plays attracted "objectionable elements" to the community.
In 1958, Berton Rouech‚, the New Yorker magazine writer and longtime board member, created a tribute to poets and writers in the early spring, which was a sellout. Readings by writers subsequently became a staple on the center's annual calendar.
In The Theater
In 1960, Mrs. Whipple brought the American Association of Producing Artists, directed by Ellis Raab and Rosemary Harris, to Guild Hall. The following year, the Phoenix Repertory Company in collaboration with the A.P.A. staged such productions as "The Seagull," "School for Scandal," "Summer and Smoke," and "Man and Superman."
The Yale Repertory Company's "story theater" took over the theater for two seasons in the 1970s. Edward Albee and Richard Barr are among those who have directed John Drew Theater productions. Its stars have included Helen Hayes, Lillian Gish, Olivia DeHavilland, Anne Jackson, and Eli Wallach.
Film, educational workshops, and children's classes all became part of the Guild Hall's offerings.
A Columnist Too
Born in Syracuse, N.Y., on Oct. 6, 1910, Mrs. Whipple was a daughter of Lino Scusa and the former Louise Ferrari. She grew up in Phoenix, N.Y., studied journalism, and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University. Later she did graduate work in dramatics. She received an honorary doctorate from Southampton College in 1981.
Before coming to East Hampton, Mrs. Whipple taught school briefly and worked on a trade journal in New York City. She also wrote a column, "Know Your Neighbor," which appeared in The Star in the early 1940s.
She was a member of the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society and the East Hampton Historical Society.
Inspiring Leader
Besides her husband, Mrs. Whipple leaves a brother, Paul Scusa of Marathon, Fla., and Henderson Harbor, N.Y.
East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. was among those who eulogized Mrs. Whipple at a funeral at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Tuesday. The Rev. Donald J. Desmond officiated. Burial followed in Cedar Lawn Cemetery here. Memorial donations have been suggested to Guild Hall.
"She was an inspiring leader under whom Guild Hall flourished and who helped East Hampton achieve its enviable stature as a place where the arts and community ideas are respected and nurtured," Robert S. Greenbaum, a former Guild Hall board chairman, said this week. She was "an elegant and talented lady with superb taste."
East Hampton Star 23 December 1999
Enez M. Whipple, who as the executive director of East Hampton's Guild Hall for nearly 40 years won the respect and affection of artists, musicians, poets, actors, and playwrights, as well as their admirers and patrons, died at home on Huntting Lane in East Hampton of cancer early Sunday morning. She was 89.
When Mrs. Whipple arrived in East Hampton in 1941, her husband, E. Warren (Whip) Whipple, an artist and cartoonist, was a member of Guild Hall's board and its summer director. He stepped down two years later, and the job was hers - at the behest of Mary and Lorenzo E. Woodhouse, whose generosity had built the cultural center more than a decade earlier.
Called Unique
"There wouldn't be a Guild Hall today without her," said Robert Menschel of Amagansett and New York, a longtime board member. "I don't think anyone but Enez could have balanced all the diverse elements - Bonackers, weekenders, Maidstoners, artists, writers, year-rounders. She was unique."
Conceived as a home for community theater, combined with meeting spaces and a gallery for local art, Guild Hall under Mrs. Whipple's leadership would move away from what the artist Alfonso Ossorio once called "a plaything for the rich," who took tea from polished silver in a setting carpeted with pink broadloom.
By contrast, Mrs. Whipple was devoted "to encouraging activities that blended the arts with community programs on many levels."
Unassuming Stance
Mrs. Whipple, however, attributed the center's success to the community itself.
As she wrote in the preface to her 1993 book, "Guild Hall of East Hampton: An Adventure in the Arts," "Guild Hall couldn't have happened just anywhere. It needed the kind of land and seascapes that could seduce artists; it needed a city like New York nearby to nourish it, and, most of all, it needed the dedicated people who have made it the exemplary cultural center it is today."
Calling her a "tireless and brilliant community 'cultural treasure,' " Guild Hall's Academy of the Arts last year dedicated the annual dinner journal for its major fund-raising event to her.
"She had great people skills," said Budd Levinson, who as a two-term board chairman enhanced the center's fund raising. "She never asked anything for herself," he added.
Guild Hall became "the focal point for the whole South Fork for cultural, intellectual, and entertainment activity," Joan Davidson, a former chairwoman of the New York State Council on the Arts, said when Mrs. Whipple retired in 1981, its 50th anniversary.
That year, more than 100 artists donated work to the Enez Whipple Print and Drawing Collection, part of Guild Hall's permanent art collection.
"Guild Hall provided a profound fulfillment in Enez's life," Mr. Whipple, whom she married on Aug. 28, 1939, said yesterday.
Life And Work
Indeed, Guild Hall's history and Mrs. Whipple's life here were inextricably entwined.
For several years after first coming to East Hampton, Mrs. Whipple directed the Guild Hall Players, an amateur group and the only one at the time to use the center during the winter. In 1948 she produced a re-enactment of local history with some 500 citizens for East Hampton's tricentennial anniversary celebration.
Two years later, she became Guild Hall's first full-time, paid staff member.
Mrs. Whipple was at the helm when Guild Hall's first annual invitational exhibit, "Artists of the Region," was mounted in 1949.
High Points
It included Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Balcomb Greene, and Ray Prohaska. In 1951, "A Historical Survey of American Art" brought the work to Guild Hall of such greats as Gilbert Stuart and Edward Hopper.
During the years when Senator Joseph A. McCarthy and other conservative voices gained attention, she blunted an effort by a group called the East Hampton Protective Committee to close down the summer theater. The group's members claimed the plays attracted "objectionable elements" to the community.
In 1958, Berton Rouech‚, the New Yorker magazine writer and longtime board member, created a tribute to poets and writers in the early spring, which was a sellout. Readings by writers subsequently became a staple on the center's annual calendar.
In The Theater
In 1960, Mrs. Whipple brought the American Association of Producing Artists, directed by Ellis Raab and Rosemary Harris, to Guild Hall. The following year, the Phoenix Repertory Company in collaboration with the A.P.A. staged such productions as "The Seagull," "School for Scandal," "Summer and Smoke," and "Man and Superman."
The Yale Repertory Company's "story theater" took over the theater for two seasons in the 1970s. Edward Albee and Richard Barr are among those who have directed John Drew Theater productions. Its stars have included Helen Hayes, Lillian Gish, Olivia DeHavilland, Anne Jackson, and Eli Wallach.
Film, educational workshops, and children's classes all became part of the Guild Hall's offerings.
A Columnist Too
Born in Syracuse, N.Y., on Oct. 6, 1910, Mrs. Whipple was a daughter of Lino Scusa and the former Louise Ferrari. She grew up in Phoenix, N.Y., studied journalism, and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University. Later she did graduate work in dramatics. She received an honorary doctorate from Southampton College in 1981.
Before coming to East Hampton, Mrs. Whipple taught school briefly and worked on a trade journal in New York City. She also wrote a column, "Know Your Neighbor," which appeared in The Star in the early 1940s.
She was a member of the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society and the East Hampton Historical Society.
Inspiring Leader
Besides her husband, Mrs. Whipple leaves a brother, Paul Scusa of Marathon, Fla., and Henderson Harbor, N.Y.
East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. was among those who eulogized Mrs. Whipple at a funeral at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Tuesday. The Rev. Donald J. Desmond officiated. Burial followed in Cedar Lawn Cemetery here. Memorial donations have been suggested to Guild Hall.
"She was an inspiring leader under whom Guild Hall flourished and who helped East Hampton achieve its enviable stature as a place where the arts and community ideas are respected and nurtured," Robert S. Greenbaum, a former Guild Hall board chairman, said this week. She was "an elegant and talented lady with superb taste."
East Hampton Star 23 December 1999
When Mrs. Whipple arrived in East Hampton in 1941, her husband, E. Warren (Whip) Whipple, an artist and cartoonist, was a member of Guild Hall's board and its summer director. He stepped down two years later, and the job was hers - at the behest of Mary and Lorenzo E. Woodhouse, whose generosity had built the cultural center more than a decade earlier.
Called Unique
"There wouldn't be a Guild Hall today without her," said Robert Menschel of Amagansett and New York, a longtime board member. "I don't think anyone but Enez could have balanced all the diverse elements - Bonackers, weekenders, Maidstoners, artists, writers, year-rounders. She was unique."
Conceived as a home for community theater, combined with meeting spaces and a gallery for local art, Guild Hall under Mrs. Whipple's leadership would move away from what the artist Alfonso Ossorio once called "a plaything for the rich," who took tea from polished silver in a setting carpeted with pink broadloom.
By contrast, Mrs. Whipple was devoted "to encouraging activities that blended the arts with community programs on many levels."
Unassuming Stance
Mrs. Whipple, however, attributed the center's success to the community itself.
As she wrote in the preface to her 1993 book, "Guild Hall of East Hampton: An Adventure in the Arts," "Guild Hall couldn't have happened just anywhere. It needed the kind of land and seascapes that could seduce artists; it needed a city like New York nearby to nourish it, and, most of all, it needed the dedicated people who have made it the exemplary cultural center it is today."
Calling her a "tireless and brilliant community 'cultural treasure,' " Guild Hall's Academy of the Arts last year dedicated the annual dinner journal for its major fund-raising event to her.
"She had great people skills," said Budd Levinson, who as a two-term board chairman enhanced the center's fund raising. "She never asked anything for herself," he added.
Guild Hall became "the focal point for the whole South Fork for cultural, intellectual, and entertainment activity," Joan Davidson, a former chairwoman of the New York State Council on the Arts, said when Mrs. Whipple retired in 1981, its 50th anniversary.
That year, more than 100 artists donated work to the Enez Whipple Print and Drawing Collection, part of Guild Hall's permanent art collection.
"Guild Hall provided a profound fulfillment in Enez's life," Mr. Whipple, whom she married on Aug. 28, 1939, said yesterday.
Life And Work
Indeed, Guild Hall's history and Mrs. Whipple's life here were inextricably entwined.
For several years after first coming to East Hampton, Mrs. Whipple directed the Guild Hall Players, an amateur group and the only one at the time to use the center during the winter. In 1948 she produced a re-enactment of local history with some 500 citizens for East Hampton's tricentennial anniversary celebration.
Two years later, she became Guild Hall's first full-time, paid staff member.
Mrs. Whipple was at the helm when Guild Hall's first annual invitational exhibit, "Artists of the Region," was mounted in 1949.
High Points
It included Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Balcomb Greene, and Ray Prohaska. In 1951, "A Historical Survey of American Art" brought the work to Guild Hall of such greats as Gilbert Stuart and Edward Hopper.
During the years when Senator Joseph A. McCarthy and other conservative voices gained attention, she blunted an effort by a group called the East Hampton Protective Committee to close down the summer theater. The group's members claimed the plays attracted "objectionable elements" to the community.
In 1958, Berton Rouech‚, the New Yorker magazine writer and longtime board member, created a tribute to poets and writers in the early spring, which was a sellout. Readings by writers subsequently became a staple on the center's annual calendar.
In The Theater
In 1960, Mrs. Whipple brought the American Association of Producing Artists, directed by Ellis Raab and Rosemary Harris, to Guild Hall. The following year, the Phoenix Repertory Company in collaboration with the A.P.A. staged such productions as "The Seagull," "School for Scandal," "Summer and Smoke," and "Man and Superman."
The Yale Repertory Company's "story theater" took over the theater for two seasons in the 1970s. Edward Albee and Richard Barr are among those who have directed John Drew Theater productions. Its stars have included Helen Hayes, Lillian Gish, Olivia DeHavilland, Anne Jackson, and Eli Wallach.
Film, educational workshops, and children's classes all became part of the Guild Hall's offerings.
A Columnist Too
Born in Syracuse, N.Y., on Oct. 6, 1910, Mrs. Whipple was a daughter of Lino Scusa and the former Louise Ferrari. She grew up in Phoenix, N.Y., studied journalism, and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University. Later she did graduate work in dramatics. She received an honorary doctorate from Southampton College in 1981.
Before coming to East Hampton, Mrs. Whipple taught school briefly and worked on a trade journal in New York City. She also wrote a column, "Know Your Neighbor," which appeared in The Star in the early 1940s.
She was a member of the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society and the East Hampton Historical Society.
Inspiring Leader
Besides her husband, Mrs. Whipple leaves a brother, Paul Scusa of Marathon, Fla., and Henderson Harbor, N.Y.
East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. was among those who eulogized Mrs. Whipple at a funeral at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Tuesday. The Rev. Donald J. Desmond officiated. Burial followed in Cedar Lawn Cemetery here. Memorial donations have been suggested to Guild Hall.
"She was an inspiring leader under whom Guild Hall flourished and who helped East Hampton achieve its enviable stature as a place where the arts and community ideas are respected and nurtured," Robert S. Greenbaum, a former Guild Hall board chairman, said this week. She was "an elegant and talented lady with superb taste."
East Hampton Star 23 December 1999
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