U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-Current
Ruth F. Hallock
Ruth F. Hallock died on Friday, January 4, 2002 at Overlook Hospital in Summit, New Jersey. She was 87 years old.
Mrs. Hallock was born in Brooklyn, New York and lived on Shelter Island before moving to Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1933 and then to West Orange, New Jersey in 1995.
She was secretary to the vice president of Union County Trust Company in Elizabeth for many years. She retired in 1979.
Mrs. Hallock was a member of the National Secretaries Association of Union County and of the Roselle Country Club.
Predeceased by her husband, Ronald S. Hallock, she leaves her sister, Hazel F. Dickens, and many nieces and nephews, including Elizabeth J. Bartnett, William F. Dickens, Carol D. Deeb, Beverley J. Shlala and the late Ronald P. Dickens.
Funeral services were held at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey on Monday, January 7. Graveside services, under the direction of the Shelter Island Funeral Home, were held on Tuesday, January 8 at St. Mary's Episcopal Churchyard with Father Steve Crowson officiating.
Those wishing to remember Ruth and her family in a special way may make donations to St. Elizabeth's Church, 305 North Broad Street, Elizabeth, New Jersey, 07208.
John J. Gyarfas
John J. Gyarfas of Shelter Island died at home on December 31, 2002 at the age of 91.
Mr. Gyarfas, a retired draftsman for the City of New York, was born in New Jersey on December 26, 1911 to Stephen and Marie Gyarfas.
Formerly a longtime resident of Elmhurst, Queens and a devout communicant of St. Bartholomew's Roman Catholic Church there, he became a resident of Shelter Island six months ago.
Predeceased in June of 2000 by his wife, Blanche M. Gyarfas, he leaves his daughter, Stephanie Frances Needham Sareyani; his son-in-law, Dexter Sareyani; and two grandchildren, Catherine and Emily Needham, all of Shelter Island.
The family received friends on Friday, January 3, 2003 at the Shelter Island Funeral Home where parish prayer services were held that evening. The Liturgy of Christian Burial was celebrated on Saturday, January 4 at Our Lady of the Isle Roman Catholic Church. Interment followed in Our Lady of the Isle Cemetery. Father Charles Dougherty, C.P., officiated.
Morgan Ames
Morgan Ames of Shelter Island and West Palm Beach, an international barrister, naval officer and yachtsman, died on Monday, December 20, 2002 following a brief period of hospitalization at Eastern Long Island Hospital. He was 83.
Mr. Ames, who with his wife Jane had had a summer home in Dering Harbor for several decades, had been a resident of Stamford, Connecticut and member of the Connecticut Bar since 1950. He had practiced law for 35 years with Cummings & Lockwood of Stamford, retiring as a senior partner. He associated with the law firm of Whitman & Ransom of Greenwich for three years before opening his own law office in Stamford in 1988. After moving from Stamford in 1999, he continued to practice law in Florida and New York.
Born in Orange, New Jersey on November 30, 1919, he graduated from Yale in 1941. He served for four years during World War II as an air antisubmarine warfare operations officer.
After the war, he obtained his law degree at Yale and commenced law practice with the Wall Street firm of Carter, Ledyard and Milburn in New York City. In 1949, he went to study international economics in England and Holland before returning to begin his practice of law in Connecticut.
In 1986, he was admitted to the Honorable Society of Middle Temple, in London, England and on November 25, 1986 he was called to the bar of England and Wales as a barrister of law.
In the early 1960s, he was general chairman of the University of Connecticut's Branch Building Fund. He was active also in the University of Bridgeport School of Law. He was an organizer and one of the first chairmen of the Stamford Veterans' Day Celebration Committee, which sponsored one of the largest parades in the nation each November 11. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, American Legion, the Catholic War Veterans, and the USS Enterprise Association. Also, he was a Kentucky Colonel and a member of the International Order of Characters.
Active in Yale alumni affairs, he was founder and first president of the Yale Club of Shelter Island. An avid offshore racer and ocean cruising sailor, he was a member of the Stamford Yacht Club since 1950 and served as its commodore from 1975 through 1977.
He is survived by his wife, Jane Carroll Ames; their four children, Lieutenant Commander Morgan P. Ames Jr., USN (Retired) of Alexandria, Virginia, Rear Admiral Christopher C. Ames, USN of Carlsbad, California, Evangeline Ames-Murray of Darien, Connecticut and Katherine Pauline Lourdes Ames-Smith of Darien, Connecticut; 10 grandchildren as well as his sister, Margaret Ames Auer of South Orange, New Jersey.
A Catholic Mass of Christian Burial was held at Our Lady Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church in Stamford on Saturday, January 4, 2002. Interment with full military honors followed in the columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to AmeriCares, 161 Cherry Street, New Canaan, Connecticut, 06840 (800-486-4357).
Dorothy U. Brownlee
Dorothy U. Brownlee died at home on January 2, 2003 at the age of 83. She was born and lived in New Jersey until retiring on Shelter Island with her family in 1977.
She was predeceased by her husband, Edgar, and son, Ronald. Dorothy is survived by her daughter, Karen Tudor, grandson Eric and great-grandson Joshua.
Dorothy and Edgar met in their early teens and continued that relationship for 67 years. She loved being a housewife and mother and later managed a gift store in Cranford, New Jersey.
After moving to Shelter Island, she became an active member of the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church. She was a deacon and a member of the United Presbyterian Women, as well as a member of the Shelter Island Garden Club. Dorothy loved her crafts -- quilting, gardening and making all those Christmas ornaments for the church fairs.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, January 11, 2003 at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church. Donations in Dorothy Brownlee's name may be made to either the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church or the Shelter Island Red Cross.
Agnes (Burns) Brindley
Agnes (Burns) Brindley of Rockville Centre, New York and Shelter Island died on December 18, 2002. She was 89.
Agnes Brindley was the wife of 55 years of the late Gil Brindley. She was predeceased by her parents, the late William A. and Agnes Burns, as well as by her granddaughter Margaret Anne Witherspoon and her son-in-law Gene Rospars.
Mrs. Brindley is survived by her children Peter (Grace) of Miller Place, New York, Susan Watson of Placentia, California, Betty Rospars of Oyster Bay, New York and Sam (Karen) Brindley of Newtown, Pennsylvania, as well as by 13 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.
Visitation was at the Francis P. DeVine Funeral Home in Oyster Bay and the funeral Mass was said at St. Dominic's R. C. Chapel on Saturday, December 21. Interment followed at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Ascent: A School for Individuals with Autism, P.O. Box 872, Point Lookout, New York 11569.
Suzanne M. Clark
Suzanne Margaret Clark of Smith Street, a wife, mother of four and a clerk at the Shelter Island Heights Post Office for 25 years, died on December 31, 2001 at Southampton Hospital. She had been battling cancer for several years. She was 66.
Born in Glen Cove to Marie and Walter MacGeorge, Mrs. Clark grew up in Mineola and attended Herricks public schools. She spent summers on Shelter Island, where her parents operated the Menantic Grove House, a bed and breakfast. She met her future husband, Robert D. Clark, on the Island and they were married October 2, 1954.
Mr. Clark passed away in April, 2000, also at the age of 66.
Mrs. Clark worked for five years at the Mashomack Preserve when it was a private hunting club before joining the staff at the Heights Post Office, where she was a familiar face behind the counter to a generation of Islanders. She retired from the post office about four years ago.
Mrs. Clark was an active member of the Presbyterian Church, where she was a deacon and sang in the choir. A golfer, she was a charter member of the Shelter Island Country Club, where years ago she helped raise money for the club by cooking breakfasts. An active bowler, she was one of the first members of the ladies bowling league at the Legion Hall. She also was a member of the Fire Department Auxiliary and the American Legion Auxiliary, of which she was a past president.
A friend of the Clarks, Andrew J. Steinmuller, described Sue Clark as a "special friend -- and special friends are the ones you can depend on for help any time night or day. She was constantly volunteering her services to do something for others."
Mrs. Clark is survived by her children, David Clark, Donald Clark and Susan Bartilucci of Shelter Island, and Lisa Turck of San Diego, California; her sister, Jane Miller of Shelter Island; her brother, Donald MacGeorge of Florida; 11 grandchildren: Bethany, Nicole, Michael, Matthew, Samuel, Christopher and Cody Clark; Amy, David, and Steven Bartilucci and Katherine Turck. She is also survived by three great-grandchildren, Brittany, Brianna and Rick.
Funeral services were held Thursday, January 3 at the Presbyterian Church with Pastor Bill Grimbol officiating. Interment followed at Emily French Cemetery.
John J. Gyarfas
John J. Gyarfas of Shelter Island died at home on December 31, 2002 at the age of 91.
Mr. Gyarfas, a retired draftsman for the City of New York, was born in New Jersey on December 26, 1911 to Stephen and Marie Gyarfas.
Formerly a longtime resident of Elmhurst, Queens and a devout communicant of St. Bartholomew's Roman Catholic Church there, he became a resident of Shelter Island six months ago.
Predeceased in June of 2000 by his wife, Blanche M. Gyarfas, he leaves his daughter, Stephanie Frances Needham Sareyani; his son-in-law, Dexter Sareyani; and two grandchildren, Catherine and Emily Needham, all of Shelter Island.
The family received friends on Friday, January 3, 2003 at the Shelter Island Funeral Home where parish prayer services were held that evening. The Liturgy of Christian Burial was celebrated on Saturday, January 4 at Our Lady of the Isle Roman Catholic Church. Interment followed in Our Lady of the Isle Cemetery. Father Charles Dougherty, C.P., officiated.
Vincent G. Desiderio
Former Shelter Island homeowner Dr. Vincent G. Desiderio died in his home in Bonita Springs, Florida on December 20, 2003. He was 82.
Born in 1921 in Brooklyn, he was a graduate of St. John's University and Georgetown Dental School and practiced in Lynbrook. Upon retirement, he volunteered at the Senior Medical Clinic in Naples, Florida. He was a veteran of World War II.
Dr. Desiderio was a golfer and had a home on Crab Creek Road on Shelter Island in the 1960s. He was a member of Gardiner's Bay Country Club.
He is survived by his wife, Grace Edwards Desiderio of Bonita Springs, and their son, Thomas, of Riverdale, New York. His first wife Margaret "Sandy" nÉe Ports predeceased him. Their surviving children are Dr. Vincent Desiderio of Washington, D.C.; Damien Desiderio of Locust Valley; Mark Desiderio of Albany; Denise Desiderio of Ijamsville, Maryland and Margaret "Beth" DiPaola of Shelter Island and Moorestown, New Jersey and nine grandchildren.
Services were held December 27, 2003 at McLaughlin Funeral Home and St. Patrick's Church in Brooklyn. Burial was at St. James Cemetery in Setauket.
MaryAnn J. German
MaryAnn German died on Monday, January 5, 2004 at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport. A memorial service for Mrs. German will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, January 10 at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church.
In lieu of flowers, those who wish to do so may make a donation to the American Red Cross Shelter Island Ambulance, P.O. Box 830, Shelter Island, 11964 with a notation that the donation is for the ambulance service.
Sarah Elizabeth Griffin
Sarah Elizabeth Griffin died at her home on Shelter Island on January 2, 2004. She was 79.
She was born in the Long Island College Hospital on March 26, 1924 to her artist mother, Goldie Belle Mardis, and her father, Edwin MacKrell, a civil engineer. She attended the Berkley School in Park Slope, Brooklyn and New York University. She began teaching in several public school systems and then at the Brearley School in Manhattan, where she was a teacher for 18 years.
Sarah married Warner G. Griffin, her husband of 56 years, on May 31, 1947. They had two children, Robert in 1949 and Susan in 1951.
Sarah and her family began summering on Shelter Island in the early 1960s and in 1977 they bought a house on Dickerson Drive. During her time on the Island, she served on the Board of Deacons of the Presbyterian Church and on the Board of Assessment Review. A member of the Gardiner's Bay Country Club, she held most of the offices for ladies' golfing and was herself an avid golfer.
Sarah's daughter Susan predeceased her in 1982 in an automobile accident in Boulder, Colorado. Sarah is survived by her husband Warner and her son Robert, a Presbyterian minister in California.
Sarah has been cremated and her remains will be buried in the family plot in the Shelter Island Cemetery. A memorial service is planned for early summer.
