U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-Current
June Bourne Nine
June Bourne Nine of Mattituck died at the Riverhead Nursing Home on January 26, 2002. She was 69.
Mrs. Nine was born on Shelter Island to Leonard and Mary Sherman Bourne on November 29, 1932. She graduated from Shelter Island High School and later married Russell Nine, who survives. She was a homemaker and enjoyed watching television.
She also is survived by her daughters, Linda Hand of Felton, Delaware, Lisa Scheiner of Tampa, Flordia, and Gail Heaney of Southold; a sister, Gertrude Bourne of Shelter Island; and eight grandchildren. She was predeceased by her brother, Leonard Bourne.
Visitation was on January 29 at the DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Mattituck. Funeral services were held on January 30 by the Rev. George Gaffga of the Mattituck Presbyterian Church. Burial was in New Bethany Cemetery in Mattituck.
Memorial donations may be made to the Mattituck Fire Department Rescue Squad or Mattituck Presbyterian Church.
William Otis Payne
William Otis Payne, a lifelong resident of Shelter Island, passed away on January 22, 2001 at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport. He was 85 years old.
Long active in his community, Bill was a past trustee and active member of the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church. He was a member of the Shelter Island Board of Education and a 60-year member of the Shelter Island Fire Department.
He played taps for the Memorial Day Parade with the American Legion for 62 years. He was a 60-year member of the Masons F & AM Peconic Lodge 349 in Greenport and served as patron to the Eastern Star.
Bill was a self-employed plumbing and air conditioning contractor on Shelter Island for many years.
He may have been best known for his cross-Atlantic voyage in 1974-75 in his 35-foot sailboat, BulBul.
He is survived by his wife, Beatrice Gatti Payne; daughters, Roberta Simons of Mattituck and Cynthia Labrozzi of Shelter Island; and sons, William Otis Payne III of Ft. Myers, Florida and Frederic Payne of Houston, Texas. Two grandchildren also survive him: Andrea L. Payne of Chicago and Albert Labrozzi of Shelter Island.
Interment in the Shelter Island Cemetery, under the direction of the Shelter Island Funeral Home, is for family only. A memorial service will be held at a later date. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church.
Philip S. Reiss
Philip S. Reiss, an innovative lawyer and deal maker who was at the forefront of developments in the global advertising and communications industry, died on Saturday, January 13 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City. The cause of death was colon cancer, which was diagnosed in September, 1999. He was 69 and lived in New York City.
Mr. Reiss, a part-time Shelter Island resident with a home for the last 23 years on Manhanset Road, was responsible for the advertising industry's first tender offer, when WPP Group plc acquired J. Walter Thompson. As the senior partner in the law firm of Davis & Gilbert LLP, Mr. Reiss subsequently oversaw the growth of the WPP media company from the acquisitions of Ogilvy & Mather through Young and Rubicam in 2000, the deals that made WPP the world's leading communications services group.
Mr. Reiss, along with Sir Martin Sorrell, group chief executive of WPP Group plc, was at the forefront of the creation of the global communications agency industry. Working together, the two men were catalysts in recognizing the commercial potential of the advertising, marketing and communication businesses. Theirs was the first deal in which a foreign company acquired a major U.S. advertising agency. Such acquisitions were controversial at the time in the U.S. However, as the deals brokered by the two men turned into profitable ventures, globalization and recognition of the commercial value of the advertising business became key factors in the merger and acquisition wave affecting agencies over the past two decades.
Mr. Reiss was considered a powerbroker in the advertising business, bringing together advertising executives and fusing together great agencies. He was involved in creating Omnicom Group Inc. from the merger of Doyle Dane Bernbach, BBDO Worldwide and Needham Harper and Steers. What is now BCOM3's predecessor, DMB&B, resulted from the merger of Benton & Bowles and Darcy, McManus and Masius, and Backer Spielvogel Bates among others.
Following his mentor, A.M. Gilbert, one of the founding partners of Davis & Gilbert, a 96-year-old law firm, Mr. Reiss was responsible for developing the basic legal arrangements by which advertising agencies govern themselves today.
Shelly Lazarus, chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, said, "He was what David Ogilvy called a true - gentleman with brains.' We will miss his humanity, his decency and his wisdom."
"Philip Reiss was a superb lawyer, but he was an even better friend," said Charlotte Beers, chairman of J. Walter Thompson Co. "He has influenced so many decisions and events in the wide world of advertising, always with generosity, candor and wit. Truly, he was peerless."
Mr. Reiss graduated from Syracuse University in 1953 and from New York University Law School in 1958. He served as first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. His legal career began in 1959 at Davis & Gilbert where he remained throughout his career. In 1994, Mr. Reiss was appointed mediator for the U.S. District Court, Southern District.
Mr. Reiss had a financial interest in the popular soap operas, "All My Children" and "One Life to Live," and represented their creator, Emmy award-winning writer Agnes Nixon, in connection with the creation, development, production and sale of the programs to ABC.
Mr. Reiss was born in New York City on April 27, 1931, the younger of two children. His father, Victor Reiss, was executive at Marcus Brothers Textile Corporation in New York.
Mr. Reiss was a member of Gardiner's Bay Country Club. He was a regular contributor to many Island organizations. He is survived by his second wife, the former Gloria Viseltear; one sister, Barbara Hochfelder; three daughters, Jane Reiss, Nancy Booke and Meg Reiss; two sons-in-law, Nicholas Booke and Dan Shefelman and four grandchildren, Lena and Will Shefelman and Henry and Milo Brooke.
A memorial service was held on Monday, January 22, 2001 at 10 a.m. at All Souls Unitarian Church at 1157 Lexington Avenue in New York City.
Robert J. Shields
Robert J. Shields, 88, of 105 Bella Vista Drive, Ithaca, New York and formerly of Shelter Island and Stewart Manor, New York, died Saturday, January 21, 2001 at the Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca. Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Shields was the son of the late James and Minnie Holden Shields.
Mr. Shields retired in 1976 from the Ettco Wire Cable Corp. in Brooklyn, where he had worked for many years. He served with the United States Navy during World War II.
Mr. Shields is survived by his wife of 60 years, Elizabeth Horan Shields of Ithaca; his sons and daughters-in-law, Thomas and Janice Shields of Wellesley, Massachusetts and Jerry and Ellen Shields of Ithaca; and by his grandchildren, Matthew, Elizabeth, Lauren and Lindsey Shields. He was predeceased by his son, Robert R. Shields.
Private committal services will be held at The Lutheran All Saints Cemetery in Brooklyn in the spring. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of one's choice. Arrangements are by the Bangs Funeral Home in Ithaca.
Lois A. Taplin
Lois A. Taplin, 67, of Dover, New Jersey and formerly of Shelter Island, died Tuesday, January 16, 2001 at the Saint Clare's Hospital Dover Campus.
Born in Mount Vernon, New York, she had resided in Dover, New Jersey for many years.
The daughter of the late Harold and Ethel (Sullivan) Whittle, she had worked for many years as a nurse in the Morris County area prior to her retirement.
Survivors include her four sons, Bruce of Shelter Island, George of Herndon, Virginia, Mark of Dover, New Jersey and Scott of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts; her three daughters, Lynn Taplin of St. Paul, Minnesota, Terry Gramkowski of Edgartown, Massachusetts and Jill Peterson of Mt. Arlington, New Jersey; one brother, Thomas Whittle of Mahwah, New Jersey; and one sister, Ethel Walsh, of San Diego, California. She is also survived by seven grandchildren, one great grandson and many nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Smith-Taylor-Ruggiero Funeral Home in Dover, New Jersey.
Susan Bolles Easlick
Susan Bolles Easlick, 61, of Washington, D.C., Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan and Ridgewood, New Jersey, died of cancer on January 16, 2002.
Susan was a long-time summer resident of Shelter Island; her grandfather Theodore Ackerson built one of the early houses on Big Ram Island. From her childhood she was an avid and accomplished sailor, winning trophies in Slow Poke, her wood pussy with the red sails, and teaching in the Shelter Island Yacht Club's junior sailing program. She remained active in the yacht club, winning the "Fastest Mother" race many times and organizing the junior sailing program and many social events. Even after she moved to Michigan she continued to keep up with her many friends on Shelter Island and considered her summers here among her fondest memories.
Susan was the administrative director of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the director of its educational foundation, the Rampant Lion Foundation, which she and her husband David, attorney and DKE executive director, helped found in the 1980s. Her family called her 20-year leadership role in a men's fraternal organization unique and said she was the spark that continually advanced the spirit and expanded the services of the fraternity. The 35,000 alumni and 2,500 undergraduate members of Delta Kappa Epsilon will greatly miss her, they said. Her unique package of skills included an eye for decorating, and she was the president of Park Avenue Design, her own interior design firm.
An early and firm admirer of President Bush, in the 2000 elections Susan single-handedly organized "Grosse Pointers for George W. Bush," hosting a breakfast during the primaries and serving as an official greeter for an early Economic Club of Detroit campaign visit. She and David continued to serve as members of the Republican National Finance Committee until her death. They relocated to Washington, D.C. from their Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan home, where they had resided for 15 years, in February 2001.
Susan was a graduate of Dwight School for Girls in Englewood, New Jersey and Bennett College, and attended Finch College. She was a sustaining member of the Junior League of Washington, D.C. and a member of the Grosse Pointe Junior League Gardeners. She also held memberships in the Yale Club of New York, the University Club of Washington, D.C., the Grosse Pointe Club and the Detroit Club. A member of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Washington, she had previously served on the vestry of St. Elizabeth's Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey and directed its children's choir.
She is survived by her husband, David Kenneth Easlick Jr.; daughter Susan Ackerson Holmes and fiancƒ Sean Thomas Cosgrove; daughter Elizabeth Holmes McKean and son-in-law George Edwin McKean, III, stepdaughter Sarah Jane Easlick; stepson David Kenneth Easlick, III; grandchildren George Edwin McKean, IV, Michael Edmunds McKean; her West Highland white terrier, Poppy, and the many good friends from around the world, with whom she stayed in constant contact.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Susan's memory may be made to the Rampant Lion Foundation, the educational foundation of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, 2238 47th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007.
The Reverend Frederick W. Rapp
The Reverend Frederick W. Rapp, long-time rector of the Episcopal Church, passed away on January 18, 2002 at the San Simeon nursing home in Greenport.
The Rev. Rapp was born in Dayton, Ohio on September 24, 1914 and was graduated with honors from Bucknell University in 1936. He went on to receive a master's degree in sacred theology from Andover Newton Theological School and then attended the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and studied at Harvard University. He served as assistant to the dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in Boston, where Sunday and Monday services were broadcast throughout the Boston area. Subsequently he was called to the Church of the Messiah in Auburndale, Massachusetts and while there taught religion at Lasell College. In 1960 he was called to St. Stephen's Church in Port Washington, New York where he served until his retirement in 1980 with the honorary title of rector emeritus.
After his retirement, the Rev. Rapp and his family became full-time residents of Shelter Island where he conducted services, when requested, at St. Mary's Episcopal Church and the Union Chapel in the Grove. He was called from retirement to St. Ann's Church in Bridgehampton where he served for four years, becoming rector emeritus for a second time in 1984.
He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Grace Gault; four children, Margaret, David, Elsa and Jonathan; seven grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews; and a brother, Edward.
The Rev. Rapp was an active sailor, tennis player, bayperson and gardener. He served as chaplain of the Manhasset Bay and Port Washington yacht clubs. During World War II, he was a volunteer in the U.S. Coast Guard, and after the war served with the Merchant Marine as deckhand and chaplain on a freighter transporting workhorses to Europe for a project sponsored by Heifer International under the UN Relief Act.
Funeral arrangements were in the care of the Shelter Island Funeral Home. A family service will be held in Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in the Reverend Rapp's memory may be sent to San Simeon by the Sound, PO Box 2122, Greenport, New York 11944.
Dorothy J. Brand
Dorothy J. Brand, 87, of Shelter Island, beloved wife of the late Alfred R. Brand, loving mother of Alfred R. Brand Jr. and Dale E. Holm, mother-in-law of Andrew Holm, died peacefully on the morning of January 9, 2001 at Eastern Long Island Hospital.
Dorothy Brand had been a resident of Shelter Island since the early 1970s. The Brands formerly resided in Fort Salonga, New York and Hicksville.
Dorothy was born in Brooklyn on April 23, 1913. After moving to Shelter Island, she actively participated in the Women's Club for many years and enjoyed many trips with the senior citizens.
Dorothy enjoyed sewing, crocheting and many forms of crafting. Her pleasant smile was often seen at the Cornucopia Gift Shop, helping out her dear friends, the Eichhorns.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the American Red Cross, Shelter Island Chapter, Ambulance Fund, P.O Box 830, Shelter Island, New York 11964.
Richmond L. Hulse
Shelter Island native Richmond L. Hulse, 88, a resident of Cooperstown, New York and Stuart, Florida, and a former resident of Greenport, died on January 4, 2000 at Martin Memorial Hospital in Stuart following a brief illness.
Mr. Hulse was born Aug. 22, 1912, the third child of Sidney and Mabel (Warner) Hulse. When the family moved to Greenport, he entered Greenport High School in the first grade. After graduating from high school there, he went on to graduate from Albany College of Pharmacy, where he was president of the Class of 1935.
He worked as a pharmacist on Long Island until 1942, when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving as an analytical chemist at Brooklyn Navy Yard and in the Pacific Theater at Pearl Harbor. After the war, he was employed by the City Drug Store in Oneonta, New York before joining Parke Davis and Co., from which he retired as a New York manager in 1977.
In 1982, Mr. Hulse moved to Cooperstown, where he was a member of St. Mary Our Lady of the Lake R.C. Church and the Leatherstocking Golf Club. His family described him as a beloved, caring husband, father and grandfather, and a loyal friend to many.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Louise Hulse; two sons, Richmond, of Cooperstown, and Christopher, of New Canaan, Connecticut; a daughter, Pamela Lotito of West Hempstead; a brother, Walter, of Southold; and six grandchildren.
Funeral services were held on January 9 in Cooperstown. Interment will take place at a later date at St. Mary's R.C. Cemetery, Cooperstown.
Memorial donations may be made to The Friends of Bassett, c/o Bassett Hospital, 1 Atwell Rd., Cooperstown, New York 13326.
Pearl K. Aberli Vincent
Pearl K. Aberli Vincent passed away peacefully in her sleep December 23, 2000. She was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey on July 22, 1912. She was a long-time resident of West Orange, New Jersey and Shelter Island before moving to Naples, Florida in 1973.
She was happily married to Rudolph Aberli Jr. for 39 years and Donald E. Vincent for 18 years, both of whom predeceased her.
She leaves behind her brother, Albert M. Slaght of Mahtoloking, New Jersey; two daughters, Babette A. Thomas of Bloomington, Minnesota and Heidi A. O'Brien of Ft. Myers, Florida and Shelter Island; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Pearl Aberli Vincent lived a long happy life with family and friends, most of whom knew her as Gigi. She will be greatly missed by all those who loved her.
