U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-Current
Thomas D. Clary
Thomas D. Clary, 49, of Shelter Island died on November 22, 2000 at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport after a long illness.
Familiar to many Islanders as the former bartender at the Dory, Mr. Clary came here in 1983, after having worked in the hospitality and restaurant business in Ohio for nearly a decade.
Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, the son of Carroll E. and Martha Trenchard Clary, Mr. Clary grew up in Brookfield, Ohio, where he was active in the high school band and the Boy Scouts. He graduated from high school in 1969 and from Kent State University in 1974, cum laude.
Mr. Clary is survived by his fiancee, Nancy Saetta of Shelter Island; his parents, of Brookfield, Ohio; and a brother, James Clary, also of Brookfield.
Private funeral services will be held on Friday, December 1 at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. Friends may send condolences via e-mail by contacting the funeral home's web site at www.flynnfuneralhome.com.
Memorial contributions may be made to Eastern Long Island Hospital, 201 Manor Place, Greenport, New York 11944-1298.
The S.B. Horton Funeral Home in Greenport is assisting the Flynn Funeral Home in Hermitage, Pennsylvania with the arrangements.
Clifford Dickerson
Clifford Dickerson, a Shelter Island native born here in 1917, died November 20, 2000 in Leesburg, Florida, where he and his wife Eleanor had retired.
The son of Clarence and Marietta Beebe Dickerson and the grandson of Nathan Dickerson, Clifford Dickerson served in the Army Air Corps in World War II and was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action.
He lived in Watertown, Connecticut and Houston, Texas, where he worked as a sales engineer for the Bristol Instrument Company until his retirement.
Besides his wife, he is survived by daughters Patty Sanders and Terry Farish and three grandchildren. Memorial donations may be sent to the Hawthorn Memorial Fund, 100 Hawthorn Drive, Leesburg, Florida 34748.
Marian Barbara Keyser
Marian Barbara Keyser, a former headmistress of The Madeira School in McLean, Virginia and a former Shelter Island town supervisor, died August 9 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida after a long illness. A Shelter Island homeowner for more than 30 years, she was 81.
Ms. Keyser served as Madeira's headmistress from 1965 to 1977, a time of turmoil in the country and unrest on campuses where all authority was challenged. She provided strong leadership and innovative vision in her firm commitment to the education of young women.
Because she believed "no modern school today can stand apart from the community," she established the school's still unique co-curriculum program, in which students participated in community service roles, political placements and internships in Washington.
She also expanded the student body into a multicultural community by bringing in the first African-American students, students from the English Speaking Union, as well as students from Japan and Latin America.
Ms. Keyser was born in Washington, D.C. and lived with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul V. Keyser on 30th Place, attended Sidwell Friends School, graduated from Vassar College in 1940 and earned her master's degree from Columbia University.
After her first jobs teaching history in Annapolis, Maryland and Port Jefferson, Long Island, she taught American history and world backgrounds to gifted girls at Hunter College High School in New York City for many years.
She received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach in the Netherlands in 1955. She was an educational advisor in the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State in 1963, which took her to Latin America, Africa and Europe. Among her other roles was membership in the College Board from 1960 to1963.
When she left Madeira in 1977 and retired to her summer home in Shelter Island, she was the first person ever elected town supervisor who was not a native. When her health started to fail in 1988, she moved to Vicars Landing, a retirement community in Ponte Vedra, Florida.
She is survived by two nieces, Patricia S. Ticer and Kari Keyser McDowell, and seven great-nieces and nephews. A memorial service was held on October 21 at 3:30 p.m. at The Madeira School, 8328 Georgetown Pike, McLean, Virginia. Memorial contributions may be made to The Madeira School, Barbara Keyser Co-Curriculum Fund.
Charles H. Staehle
Charles H. Staehle of Shelter Island died suddenly at his home on November 1, 2000. He was 78.
A graduate of Oswego College and New York University, Mr. Staehle served in the Army during World War II and saw action at Omaha Beach and the Battle of the Bulge.
An educator, Mr. Staehle spent four years in Shiraz, Iran with his family during the reign of the Shah, working under a grant from the Ford Foundation to help develop plans for vocational education there.
He was an assistant professor at SUNY in New York City and served in an administrative capacity in the Levittown and Calhoun school districts. He retired from the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) at Old Westbury.
Mr. Staehle was past president of the Lions District 20 and of the Shelter Island Senior Citizens Association. He was also a member of the American Legion and the Moose Lodge.
Besides his wife, Ruth, Mr. Staehle is survived by his daughter, Vicki Revier; his son-in-law Kenneth; grandchildren Joshua, 6, and Jenna, 3, of Rhode Island, and sisters Charlotte and Helen Staehle of Stewart Manor, New York.
Funeral services were held at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church on November 4. A gravesite ceremony is planned after cremation.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to East End Hospice, Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, New York 11978 or the Senior Citizens Foundation, Box 354, Shelter Island, New York 11964.
Louise F. Walsh
Louise F. Walsh, 84, the founder with her son George Walsh Jr. of George's IGA, as well as the company's treasurer, died of cancer on November 1, 2001 at her home on Sunshine Road after a long illness.
Born in Brooklyn on November 13, 1916, Mrs. Walsh married her husband, George Sr., in 1934. They lived in Queens, where Louise began to raise her family of three -- two boys and a girl. George Sr. worked for Bohacks there until he was given the choice in 1943 of a transfer to manage a Bohacks store in either Sag Harbor or Shelter Island. He opted for the Island, replacing a manager who had been drafted. (Mr. Walsh had severe asthma and was draft-deferred.) Her family "thought pop was taking her to the end of the world," Louise's son, George, said.
Three years later the Walshes started their own mom-and-pop market -- George's Market -- where Planet Bliss is now. Mrs. Walsh was the bookkeeper, largely self-taught, with some training through adult education courses. Later she baked her famous pies and cakes for the market.
Mr. Walsh died in 1975 but the market continued to operate until two years later, when the Bohacks closed and George Walsh Jr. made a bid on the property. "Do you think I'm crazy?" he asked his mother. "Do what you think is right for you," she told him. They turned the site into today's George's IGA, where his mother continued to work -- except for a brief period when she tried retirement -- until last year.
The store had a somewhat rocky beginning. When it opened at the end of summer, "People kept coming in to shake my hand and tell me they were going to Florida for the winter," Mr. Walsh said.
Her son George, recalled that Louise's retirement, in her late 60s, saw her take a trip to Florida and a journey to the Holy Land. It ended when he asked her to come back after the bookkeeper left to help out temporarily. She had missed the camaraderie of the employees, whom she considered her second family, and worked at the store three days a week until illness forced her to stay home last year when she was 83.
Island resident Governor Hugh Carey told Mr. Walsh recently, "Your mother was the matriarch of the Island."
Mrs. Walsh was active in Shelter Island community life, helping with fund-raisers for local organizations and charities. She was treasurer of the Shelter Island Fire District for 25 years and its secretary for 10 and was also president of the PTA. She was an active member of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Greenport.
In addition to her sons George Jr. of Shelter Island and Howard B. Walsh of Clinton, Massachusetts and daughter Margaret L. Walsh of Maplewood, New Jersey, Mrs. Walsh is survived by her sister Catherine Scheblein of Rosedale, New York; her brothers Joseph Faber of Cooper City, Florida, Frank Faber of West Islip and Alwin Faber of Massapequa; and by two grandchildren, Jeremy D. Walsh of Gilbert, Arizona and Eric A. Walsh of Shelter Island. She was predeceased by her brothers John, Bert and Walter Faber and sister Fredrica Jahn.
Calling hours at St. Mary's Episcopal Church were on Friday and Saturday, November 2 and 3. Funeral services were held on Sunday at St. Mary's Church with interment at Shelter Island Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, Mrs. Walsh's wishes were that donations be made to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center or the East End Hospice.
Louise S. Dickinson
Louise Spaulding (Schaible) Dickinson, 84, passed away on Sunday, October 15, 2000 at the Lebanon Center of Genesis ElderCare in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Born on Shelter Island on December 27, 1915, she was the daughter of the late Antone and Eleanor (Young) Schaible. She raised her children here and moved a number of years ago to New Hampshire, according to her sister Lenis Edwards of Shelter Island.
Mrs. Dickinson spent her later years serving as a foster grandmother in the Lebanon, New Hampshire school system and doing volunteer work for the elderly in the Lebanon and Enfield areas.
She is survived by her husband, Terrance Dickinson; two daughters, Gloria Ryder of Riverhead and Lorenda Robertson of Enfield, New Hampshire; one son, Carlos R. Spaulding of Lebanon, New Hampshire; another sister, Marie Murray of Block Island, Rhode Island, and a brother, Abe Schaible of Shelter Island. She was the oldest of five generations and leaves many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be announced at a later date. Arrangements are under the direction of the Ricker Funeral Home in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Rev. Louis M. Dolan
The Rev. Louis M. Dolan, a Passionist priest who summered on Shelter Island for many years, died of a heart attack on October 15, 2000 in his home in New York City after celebrating Sunday morning mass. He was 79.
The Rev. Dolan was assistant pastor of St. Emeric's Church on Manhattan's Lower East Side and had also worked with many non-governmental organizations associated with the United Nations.
The fifth child in a family of nine, he was born March 11, 1921 to John and Mary Dolan in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
He was ordained in 1945. After settling in the United States in the 1960s, he traveled extensively to work with many ecumenical groups fostering interfaith dialogues among people around the world.
He came to Shelter Island initially through St. Gabriel's Retreat, where he often said mass in summer. In recent years, he stayed at the Peconic Lodge and was known for the popular “asado” or Argentine-style barbeque he held for his local friends on the beach every August.
He is survived by five siblings: Dr. Mario Dolan, of Irvington, New York, and Sister Eileen Dolan, of Maryknoll, New York; and the Rev. Herbert Dolan, Maureen Richards and Elizabeth Dolan, all of Buenos Aires; and 13 nieces and nephews.
A wake will be held Wednesday and Thursday, October 18 and 19, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at St. Emeric's Church, 185 Avenue D, near 12th Street. Funeral services will be at St. Emeric's on Friday, October 20 at 11 a.m.
Robert A. Weems
Robert A. Weems, a former Shelter Island Heights resident, passed away Monday, October 16, 2000 in Vero Beach, Florida after a long illness.
Mr. Weems, born in Westfield, New Jersey, on December 11, 1917, was a 1941 graduate of Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts. Immediately upon graduation, he enrolled in the U.S. Navy Officer Training Program and was commissioned an ensign, USNR. Mr. Weems rose to the rank of lieutenant and took command of a mine sweeper in the European theatre of World War II.
In September 1945, Robert Weems married Dolores T. Huschle, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Huschle Jr. of Little Ram Island. They had four children: sons Robert and Gary of Vero Beach; two daughters, Karen Cabaud of Wyoming, Delaware and Susanne Steele of Kingwood, Texas.
Shortly after their marriage, Mr. Weems became a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He retired after 25 years in the Bureau and joined his brother-in-law, David Huschle, in the management of the Ram's Head Inn. The Weemses retired to Vero Beach in 1973 and celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary there on September 3.
In addition to his children and his wife, Mr. Weems is survived by six grandchildren and a brother, Lee, of New Jersey. A funeral mass will be celebrated at the Church of the Holy Cross in Vero Beach on Saturday, October 21.
William Francis Dickens
William Francis Dickens died on September 5, 2001 in upstate New York. He was 92 years old.
Mr. Dickens was born on Shelter Island on March 1, 1909. He was the son of Abram Dickens, who was also born on the Island. His mother, Margaret Joyce Dickens, was born in Galway, Ireland and migrated to Shelter Island at a very young age.
Those that went before him were his sister (a Harelegger), Dorothy Dickens Keri, and his son, Ronald Paul Dickens. He is survived by his loving wife, Hazel Fredericks Dickens. His passing was three days before their 71st wedding anniversary. Bill and Hazel had four more children: Elizabeth Joyce Bartnett of Rochester, New York; William Francis Dickens of Indianapolis, Indiana; Carol Dorothy Ruth Deeb of Naples, Florida; and Beverly Jane Shlala of Livingston, New Jersey. Betty, Bill and Carol are Hareleggers. His sister, Margaret Burns Payne, an Island resident, is also a surviving kin.
There are 17 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. He was aware of all of them and knew them well.
The family said that honesty is about the best word to describe Bill. One relative said, "Perhaps this tale can sum up that observation. He was a house painter in his later years. Mr. King, an Island contractor, asked him if he would paint a house and garage. Examining the buildings, he advised that he could not give a price because they were in such poor condition, but an agreement was made that a fair price would be charged. There was a handshake. When Mr. King turned to leave, Bill spoke up and said, 'A moment please, I must advise that I have changed my rate. I used to charge $7 an hour but I'm getting old, can't work as hard or fast, so I have dropped my rate to $6 an hour.'
"That was the Bill we knew and loved. He lived on the Island for 92 years and loved it."
Now he rests in peace with his son, Ronald Paul, at Our Lady of the Isle Cemetery.
