Allen MacMartin Look of West Tisbury passed away on Nov. 8, 2024, surrounded by loved ones. He was 79.
Allen was born on June 21, 1945, in New York City, and spent much of his childhood in Rye, N.Y. He was the third child of Allen Look Sr. and Maria Auchincloss Look. He had two older sisters, Barbara (Bull, Edgar) and Maria (Hart), and a younger brother, Dan.
Allen went to the Fay School, followed by Phillips Academy — Andover and then returned home to graduate from Rye Neck High School. Following high school, Allen turned to the classroom of the open road, and spent the summer with a backpack and a motorcycle traveling across the country, staying with family and friends.
Allen’s father and uncle — and generations before — grew up on the Vineyard, and Allen spent many summers at the family farm in West Tisbury, Crow Hollow. It was during these years that he discovered a lifelong passion for sailing, which began with racing Vineyard Haven 15s and teaching at the Edgartown Yacht Club.
In 1967, in the magic of the Vineyard summer, Allen met Carly Thompson. They started dating and were married a year later, and would remain so for 30 years.
From the beginning, Allen and Carly’s life was filled with adventure and creativity. Their first years included rebuilding an Alden sloop in Vineyard Haven, living in Miami and New York, and eventually settling for a time in Western Massachusetts, where Allen completed his bachelor’s degree at Hampshire College, studying film.
During the Northampton years, Allen and Carly took leave to help deliver George Moffett’s sailboat, Snow Goose, from Gibraltar to the Vineyard — along with George, Charlie Blair, and Trudy Taylor. Allen and Carly flew to Paris a month before meeting the boat, arriving on New Year’s Eve without a place to stay, and fortuitously landed a room in exchange for a few hours of work each day at the famous Shakespeare and Company bookstore. They also toured England, the Côte d’Azur, and the Costa Brava. Their sail from Gibraltar to the Vineyard, with stops in the Canary Islands and the Caribbean, was full of cinema-worthy stories.
After crossing the Atlantic, Allen and Carly had a daughter, Samantha, born in 1975 in Northampton. Soon after, they decided to make the Vineyard their permanent home — they wanted to raise their kids on the Island, and Allen wanted to help his aging father with Crow Hollow. In 1978, Allen’s father passed away, and Carly and Allen’s son Wesley was born. A couple of years later, they began construction of their house across the hayfields from the Crow Hollow homestead where Allen’s mother lived. Carly and Allen designed the house together, and friends and family helped build it. The house was full of light, and was a beloved, unconventional home of the heart for Allen and his family.
The Vineyard community meant the world to Allen. For a number of years he ran Burt Marine, inspired by the work of Erford Burt and by the Island waterfront community. He also served as an EMT, and the chair of the West Tisbury finance committee. He was a longtime youth hockey coach, and a fierce player in the men’s league. Allen was also a passionate lover of the arts. Photography and film were his personal passions, and he was an active member of the Art Worker’s Guild, where he had a studio. He was also a gifted cabinetmaker and writer, and he had been working on various screenplays into his final years.
It was common to hear Allen rhapsodize about how much talent there is on the Island, and he worked to promote this talent. He was a MVTV board member, and a regular at Pathways Arts, the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society, the P.A. Club, and anywhere his honorary son, Phil DaRosa, was playing. He never missed one of his grandchildren’s artistic events, and he was moved by artistic expression, frequently brought to tears.
Above all, Allen loved his family — a family which he extended with many close friends. He was commonly sighted with bare feet, a broad smile, and a firm handshake or bear hug.
He is survived by his ex-wife, Carly Look; his daughter, Samantha Look; his son, Wesley Look; and his grandchildren, Tasman Strom and Ayla Strom.
A celebration of Allen’s life will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 4 pm at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury. There will be a potluck, with music and dancing to follow.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Polly Hill Arboretum, online at pollyhillarboretum.givecloud.co; to the Visiting Nurses Association of Cape Cod – Martha’s Vineyard, online at capecodhealth.org/ways-to-give; or to Pathways Center for the Arts, online at bit.ly/PCA_donate.