Anne Fredey, 85, of Westhampton Beach dies

Anne Fredey's life was in some ways a Cinderella story.

Raised on a South Carolina dairy farm, the gifted young seamstress was swept off her feet by a hotelier 25 years her senior, and with him led a glamorous life of cocktail parties, celebrity friends and grand dinners -- which she cooked for the frequent guests at their Westhampton Beach home.

Fredey, born Anne Prince, died Friday of ovarian and uterine cancer. She was 85.

"She was very smart, very smart for someone who hadn't had a higher education," said her daughter Leslie Millrod, 53, of Coram. "She was always looking to learn things."

She was born in North Carolina in 1926, and, one of the eldest among eight siblings, tended to her younger sisters on the family farm near Columbia, S.C.

After graduating high school, she went to work for a dress designer who made debutante ball gowns. Family legend has it that during World War II, she was at an outdoor concert in South Carolina and told her friend she could not see the performers.

Suddenly, someone scooped her up and held her aloft. He was Richard Fredey, a handsome Marine colonel from Boston, his father a French chef.

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It was a short courtship.

The hotel business took the couple to Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and New Jersey. In Miami Beach, Richard Fredey ran the landmark Roney Plaza Hotel.

"It was a pretty elegant lifestyle," Millrod said.

Her husband called her Melissa, a nickname that stuck.

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They had two daughters, and settled in Westhampton Beach, where they entertained every weekend in their seven-bedroom house. "We never really knew who my dad was bringing home," Millrod said.

Anne Fredey, who when she married did not know how to cook, now hosted lavish dinner parties and explored the regional dishes of China and Japan. Among the things she has left behind are nearly 2,000 cookbooks, her daughter said.

Richard Fredey ran the Westhampton Bath & Tennis Club and Hotel Carter near Times Square. He and his wife posed for photographs with Tony Bennett and Bernadette Peters, Millrod said.

Anne Fredey continued to sew, creating evening gowns for herself, corduroy suits for her daughters, and vestments for St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Westhampton Beach. One of her last projects was a set of needlepoint covers for kneelers used for weddings at St. Mark's.

Her husband died in 2001 at age 100.

Fredey also is survived by daughter Bree Broderick, 57, of Westhampton Beach; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. A private memorial service is planned. Contributions may be made to Care to Knit, Inc., 1940 Deer Park Ave., Suite 155, Deer Park, NY 11729.