Obituaries, July 29, 2010
Howard Morton Cooper
Howard Morton Cooper, a mortgage broker and longtime resident of East Hampton, died on July 12 at Ellis Hospital in Niskayuna, N.Y. Mr. Cooper, who was 83, had Alzheimer’s disease for the past five years. He died of heart failure.
He was born on Aug. 26, 1926, in Mount Vernon, N.Y., to Samuel Cooper and the former Clara Levine, who were Russian immigrants. He graduated from high school there and left Iona College to enlist in the Army in 1945.
An airplane crew chief with the 25th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron at Itami Army Air Base in Osaka, Japan, he was responsible for the repair and maintenance of P-51 Mustangs. Thus began a love of flying.
In 1947, he was honorably discharged, and he began to work with his father as a salesman at Junior Formals. In 1951, he went to work with his father-in-law, Nathan J. Sonnenblick, at Sonnenblick-Goldman Corporation. While there, he developed an interest in mortgage brokering. In 1964, he co-founded Cooper-Horowitz, which became a powerhouse in the business, according to his daughter, Karen Cooper.
Marriages to Jean Sonnenblick and Sally Weld ended in divorce.
He spent about four decades living part and eventually full time on Main Street in East Hampton, where he enjoyed gardening, walks on the beach, and flying his Cessna.
His friends liked to call him “the chief,” and his daughter said in an obituary prepared for The New York Times that he would be remembered for his “charismatic personality and love of life.”
Mr. Cooper is survived by his children, Karen Cooper, who lives in Lake Placid, N.Y., Peter Cooper of East Hampton, and Neal Cooper of Chicago, by four grandchildren, and by three nieces.
A celebration of his life was held on July 15 at Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York City, and he was buried in Mount Vernon. His family suggested memorial donations to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Avenue, seventh floor, New York 10001.
Kenneth L. Gholson
Booming and baritone, Kenneth L. Gholson’s voice was easily recognizable and familiar to radio listeners on the East End. With a 25-year career in the business, his passion was radio, his mother, Elaine Gholson-Parks, said. He enjoyed 
nothing better than interacting with his audience while spinning rhythm-and-blues classics, spirited oldies, and pop and rock tracks.
Mr. Gholson, who had diabetes the past few years, died after being taken to Southampton Hospital last Thursday. He was 49. His mother said he had heart failure.
His broadcasting career began in the early 1980s at WSBH in Southampton. There he met his good friend and colleague John Marino, who helped him along, according to Ms. Gholson-Parks. During his time at the station, which later became WHFM, he hosted Long Island’s highest-rated “Saturday Night Dance Party,” according to one Web site about the station’s history.
He also worked at WBEA in Amagansett and WBAZ in Southold. His final radio broadcasting job was at
WLNG in Sag Harbor, where he worked weekends and helped with political coverage. Gary Sapiane, the vice president and general manager at the station, said Mr. Gholson had “a great voice.” He was an entertaining D.J. who adapted easily to the station’s format, Mr. Sapiane said.
A musician who played the saxophone, Mr. Gholson was a fan of popular as well as orchestral music. He had a vast knowledge of music and of the radio industry. “He could name classical and modern composers, their compositions, and give a brief history of each,” his mother said. “He felt comfortable in the broadcast booth and the recording studio.”
“Kenny had an incredible voice and radio will miss him much,” his uncle Ronnie Gholson said.
Mr. Gholson was born on Aug. 10, 1960, at Southampton Hospital. He grew up on Norris Lane in Bridgehampton and lived there as an adult, at the house that had belonged to his grandparents Ida Beatrice Street-Gholson and Berkley Andrew Gholson, whom he adored, his mother said.
He graduated from Bridgehampton High School in 1978. He went on to attend the University of Miami in Florida, the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University in Brookville, and the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in Stanford, where he earned a degree in radio broadcasting and television announcing in 1981.
Mr. Gholson was baptized at Cooper Memorial Baptist Church in Bridgehampton. He attended the First Baptist Church of Bridgehampton most of his life. He was also involved with the local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., helping out where he could, attending conventions, and speaking to groups.
In addition to his mother, he is survived by his aunt Patricia L. Gholson, who was like a second mother to him, always encouraging him, especially when it came to education, Ms. Gholson-Parks said.
He is also survived by another aunt, Elaine Gholson of Bridgehampton, and by a great-aunt, Queenie Street-Archie of Southampton. Of his five uncles, in addition to Ronnie Gholson of Center Moriches, he is survived by James Gholson of Bridgehampton and Terry Gholson, Maurice Gholson, and Eddie Gholson, all of Las Vegas. A half sister, Lora Bolling of Riverhead, also survives.
Visiting hours were held yesterday at the O’Connell Funeral Home in Southampton. Visiting hours will also be held tomorrow at the First Baptist Church in Bridgehampton from 10 a.m. to noon, when the funeral service will start. Burial will follow at Edgewood Cemetery in Bridgehampton.
T.K.V.
Dorothy V. Jones, 100
Dorothy Vollmer Jones, a retired teacher of 35 years in the East Hampton public school system, died at home in Coral Springs, Fla., on July 17. Mrs. Jones, who was 100, had pneumonia.
She was born on Jan. 11, 1910, in Middletown, N.Y., to Irene D. and Edward C. Vollmer. She graduated from New Paltz State Normal School in 1931, and received a bachelor’s degree in education from New York University in 1941. She also attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, accumulating points equivalent to a master’s degree.
Upon graduating from New Paltz, she started teaching in East Hampton, retiring from the same school system in 1966. During this time she met Benson Eldredge Jones, to whom she was married on Aug. 21, 1948. Mr. Jones died on Aug. 15, 1978, six days short of their 30th anniversary. They had no children.
In East Hampton, Mrs. Jones was active in both church and community. As a member of the Presbyterian Church, she was a deacon for six years and in charge of the nursery department for many years. She was also a co-chairwoman of numerous food sales, and helped run rummage sales.
She was a member of the Ladies Village Improvement Society, chairing booths at the annual fair for many years. She also served on the board for a year.
Like her father, who was the church organist and a music teacher, Mrs. Jones was an accomplished musician. She was the piano accompanist during her New Paltz years for the school glee club, as well as operettas, musicals, and soloists.
She continued to hone her musical skills during the ’30s and ’40s as a piano accompanist for many Guild Hall productions. During the World War II days of Camp Hero in Montauk, she was the accompanist for a trio that sang to entertain the troops.
In 1987, Mrs. Jones moved permanently to Coral Springs, having spent winters there since 1979. In Florida, she was involved with the Presbyterian Church of Pompano Beach. After completing a training program of 50 weeks, she received a commission in a one-to-one ministry reaching out to the lonely, grieving, and ill. She also served on the board of deacons for three years.
In her 80s, she was one of many volunteers sorting and packing supplies that came pouring into the church following Hurricane Andrew. She traveled repeatedly to South Florida to help distribute water, food, and clothing to the victims.
In the obituary she wrote for herself she said that one of her favorite quotations was from Horace Mann, the education reformer: “Be ashamed to die until you have achieved some victory for mankind.”
Mrs. Jones was a former member of the South Fork Country Club of Amagansett and a member of the Deerfield Country Club of Deerfield Beach, Fla.
While there are no survivors on her side of the family, her sister, Eleanor Kesteloo, having predeceased her, two nephews on her husband’s side survive. They are William E. Jones of East Hampton and Thomas Ward of Dallas.
Mrs. Jones had celebrated her 100th birthday at a party in Pompano Beach in January. A service was held for her on July 22 at her church in Pompano Beach, and there will be another one at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church this fall.
Nicolas Carone
Nicolas Carone, one of the last survivors from the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, died on July 15 in Hudson, N.Y. He was 93.
Mr. Carone, who lived on Three Mile Harbor from 1953 to 1961, was one of the artists who followed Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock out to the South Fork. He bought a house in East Hampton that he rented to Willem de Kooning in 1961 and 1962 while his studio was being completed.
Prior to that he was part of the New York art scene, studying with Perle Fine, Jane Freilicher, and Larry Rivers. He also painted in Rome after World War II, using money he won from the Prix de Rome and a Fulbright scholarship he earned while there.
In Rome he befriended Roberto Matta, a Chilean artist who had been “excommunicated” from the New York Surrealists after many blamed him for causing the suicide of his friend and fellow artist Arshile Gorky. Matta became one of the main influences in his life, he recalled in a 1968 interview with Paul Cummings for the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art.
One of six children, Mr. Carone was born on June 4, 1917, in New York City. His parents had emigrated to the United States from Italy, his father, Francesco Carone, from Bari, and his mother, Katerina Failace Carone, from Lucania.
When he was 5, his family moved to Hoboken, N.J., where he grew up. He attended the Leonardo da Vinci Art School on St. Marks Place in Manhattan with Isamu Noguchi and other artists of note.
He married Nell Mager around 1945. In 1951 he married Adele Bishop, whom he divorced in 1963. Both predeceased him. With Ms. Bishop he had twin boys, Christian and Claude, who attended the Springs School from first to fourth grade.
Christian Carone, who now lives in Brooklyn, remembers the parties and art openings he attended with his parents and the softball games on the beach with Pollock and de Kooning and other artists and writers. “We were close to the water and near the woods,” he said. “We rode our bikes into the village. We felt very safe.” Claude Carone now lives in Claverack, N.Y.
After 1962, Mr. Carone simply dropped out of the art world, according to Joan Washburn, his dealer. “He just didn’t want to get involved in the gallery world anymore,” she said. He didn’t have any major shows until recently, when paintings of his from the 1950s, as well as more recent works, were shown. He received the Lee Krasner Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
He is survived by a son from his first marriage as well, David Hart, who lives in Fort Wayne, Ind. A sister, Rose Ballantine of New York City, and two brothers, David Carone of North Arlington, N.J., and Matthew Carone of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., also survive.
A memorial service will be held in the fall. J.L.
Memorial Celebration
A celebration commemorating the late Virginia Whiting Lorini Kuhn will be held on Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the family’s house at 368 Pantigo Road in East Hampton.
Ms. Kuhn, who was 79, died in February of this year following her diagnosis with lung cancer.
Howard E. Purcell
Harold E. Purcell of Amagansett died on Tuesday. Funeral arrangements for Mr. Purcell, who was 84, will be handled by the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. A full obituary will appear in a future issue.