A celebration of the life of the late David Carney was held at the Bridgehampton Senior Center last Thursday. A former United Nations economist who retired to Sag Harbor in 1985, Dr. Carney died in Southampton on May 8.

Dr. Carney, who arrived in this county from Sierra Leone in 1953 for a professorship at Lincoln University, earned five degrees between 1945 and 1952. Earlier in life he had been a high school teacher, a high school headmaster in Ghana, and a statistician for the Nigerian government.

In addition to Lincoln University, a historically black university in Pennsylvania, Dr. Carney taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, and Antioch College in Ohio. He returned to Sierra Leone as a government economic advisor in 1961, and, between 1963 and 1984, worked in West Africa, East Africa, and the West Indies through the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

The author of several books on economics, philosophy, and religion, he also wrote a literary memento mori to his first wife, Helen, after her death in 1976. He was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, Rotary International, and a lifetime member of the Royal Economic Society.

In retirement, Dr. Carney pursued a wide range of interests from alternative medicine to philosophy. In the electronic age, his personal mission was the preservation of the written word, his family said. He was always ready with a word of advice for those close to him, they wrote, and had been active in the Coalition of Neighborhoods for the Preservation of Sag Harbor. He also volunteered with the Sag Harbor Food Pantry.

A profilic writer of letters to The East Hampton Star over the years, Dr. Carney addressed a wide range of topics including domestic and foreign policy, immigration, and science. He was a harsh critic of the George W. Bush administration and particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In a March 2000 letter about the National Rifle Association, Dr. Carney wrote, “Only a perverted mind would treat causing death, to nonhuman and human animals, as a ‘sport.’ And since there is no way to prevent perverted minds from coming into being, we can at least make it less likely for such minds to follow through with corresponding action by rigorously controlling and restricting general access to death-dealing weapons by the entire population, criminal-minded and not.”

Dr. Carney is survived by a daughter who has asked that her name not be used, by one other child, and by two grandchildren. His second wife, Ellen, died before him.

Memorial donations have been suggested to the Bridgehampton Senior Center, P.O. Box 1059, Bridgehampton 11932, the John Jermain Memorial Library, 34 West Water Street, Sag Harbor 11963 or johnjermain.org, or to UNICEF, 125 Maiden Lane, New York 10038,  or unicef.org. 

James D. Griffin, who built a house in Montauk in 1984, died last Thursday at Southampton Hospital. He suffered a fatal heart attack after a morning of fishing while heading back into Montauk Harbor, his family said.

Mr. Griffin was a dedicated fisherman who docked his boat Next Move, a 28-foot BHM, at the Montauk Marine Basin. “He loved being out on the water,” said his daughter Cara Griffin of Astoria, Queens. “He enjoyed teaching his grandchildren to fish, too. In the wintertime he did a lot of crossword puzzles, biding his time until he could get his boat back in the water,” she said.

“His family takes some comfort in knowing that he left this earth while out on his boat on the water in the place he loved so much, Montauk,” his daughter wrote. She thanked the Coast Guard, the Montauk Fire Department, the East Hampton police, Southampton Hospital staff, “his fishing buddy Artie, and everyone else who made an effort to save him on the morning of his death.”

Mr. Griffin first visited Montauk as a child when his father brought him out from White Plains, N.Y., to fish. Later, when he had a family, he kept a boat in Westchester and used to drive it out with them, docking at Snug Harbor Marina.

He and his wife of 46 years, Roberta Griffin, a nurse at the Southampton Hospital emergency room, moved to their Agnew Avenue house in Montauk full time in 2002. They had sold their house in Armonk in 1997, and lived for a time in Valhalla, N.Y., before moving to Montauk.

He was born on March 4, 1947, in White Plains, to John A. Griffin and the former Helen Sheehan. He graduated from White Plains High School in 1965. When his father died in 1970, he took over the family business, John A. Griffin Sons Moving Company, and ran it until 2002. “He was never one to sit behind a desk,” his daughter said.

Mr. Griffin traveled with his wife in retirement, and liked to read mystery books. Mainly he was always down by the docks or fishing for fluke or striped bass with friends, his daughter said.

In addition to his wife and daughter Cara, he is survived by another daughter, Julie Gomes of Warwick, R.I., and a son, James Griffin Jr. of Forest Hills. He also leaves four grandchildren, a brother, John Griffin of Florida, and  a sister, Geraldine Griffin of Washington State.

A wake will be held at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton tomorrow from 6 to 8 p.m. A Mass will be said at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk on Saturday at 11 a.m. He will be cremated.

His family suggested memorial contributions to the Montauk Food Pantry at St. Therese, 50 South Dorset Drive, Montauk 11954.

Benjamin A. Havens, 69, a Springs bayman with fisherman forebears back to the 19th century, died at Northport Veterans Hospital on Saturday after a short illness. He was diagnosed with a progressive form of cancer less than two weeks ago.

Born on March 29, 1945, to the former Anna Hollander and William E. Havens of the East Hampton branch of the family, he grew up in Amagansett. While still at the Amagansett School he went ocean haul-seining with Captain Ted Lester’s crew and gill-netting for sturgeon with Capt. Frank Lester. As a student at East Hampton High School, he fished with Capt. Milt Miller, power-seining and gill-netting in Gardiner’s Bay. After graduating high school in 1964, he went full time with Ted Lester.

In 1966 Mr. Havens joined the Army. He was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in combat in Vietnam. Upon returning home, he married the former Mary Emma Munkenbeck, in 1969, and soon started his own ocean haul-seine crew.

The Havens crew eventually included his father, his uncle Lindy Havens, and his brother Billy Havens. His family wrote that “he built his own ocean dories, bay sharpies, ocean haul seines, gill and trap nets, lobster and conch pots, and scallop dredges.” The crew fished together through the 1980s until New York State banned haul-seining for striped bass, the “money fish.”

Mr. Havens went to work after that for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, as captain of the David H. Wallace, surveying Peconic Bay in a long-term study of young-of-the-year finfish. His family said he mentored many young fishery biologists and technicians in the course of that job, which lasted 20 years. In 2007, working alongside his son, Michael Havens, he returned to his life on the water, clamming, oystering, scalloping, and gill and trap-netting. Right to the end, he kept on teaching. His daughter, Jeannie Stillwachs, said yesterday that he loved nothing more than taking his grandson fishing and clamming.

He was a member of the American Legion, and a charter member of the East Hampton Baymen’s Association and the East Hampton Dory Rescue Squad.

Mr. Havens is survived by his wife, who lives in Springs, and two children, Michael Havens of Springs and Ms. Stillwachs of East Hampton. He also leaves two brothers, Billy and Nick Havens, both of East Hampton, and three sisters, Connie Collona and Lillian Havens of East Hampton and Marion Havens of Hicksville. Three grandchildren survive as well.

There will be a graveside service at Oak Grove Cemetery in Amagansett at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Felice Lupo, who established Astro Pizza in Amagansett in the early ’70s, naming it to commemorate the space explorations of the time, died at home on Aug. 8 in Baltimore, where he had lived for several years. He was 88. He had not been ill, his family said, and died peacefully in his sleep.

Mr. Lupo was a familiar figure in Amagansett, where his children still run the pizza place and restaurant on Main Street.

He was born on Jan. 2, 1926, in Palermo, Italy, to Gaetano Lupo and the former Gesualda Di Blasi. In 1956, he married the former Onofria Teresi. In 1971, at the age of 45, after having been a policeman, or carabiniere, in San Remo, Italy, Mr. Lupo and his wife decided to seek the American dream. With their children and Mrs. Lupo’s mother, they came to America, his family said. Mrs. Lupo died in 2001, but their children survive. They are Gesualda (Alda) Stipanov and Gaetano (Tony) Lupo of Amagansett and Angela Parisi of Manorville.

Mr. Lupo had visited a friend in Amagansett and chose the hamlet as a good place to raise his family. With the help of friends, the couple went into the pizza business. Generations of children remember the big moon on one of the walls, and the astronauts hanging down from the ceiling. Every morning for 35 years, except for one month a year when he took his family back to Sicily, Mr. Lupo walked to work, put on his white apron, and made his pizzas. He turned the business over to his children after the death of his wife.

A few years later Mr. Lupo was married a second time, to Virginia Buscemi,  and they moved to Baltimore. She survives. On visits back to Amagansett a few times a year, his family said, he would don his apron again, sit in the pizza place, read an Italian newspaper, eat a couple of doughnuts, and dictate to his children what was right or wrong with the place.

Mr. Lupo loved his family, and was proud of their hard work, dedication, and accomplishments, his family said. He also was extremely proud of his seven grandchildren, most of whom have earned a master’s degree and four have become teachers. They all survive. Mr. Lupo would always comment, his family said, on the fact that his grandchildren, descendants of immigrants, were teaching American kids. Two great-grandchildren also survive. A brother, Vincenzo Lupo, died before him.

A funeral Mass was said at  Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton on Aug. 11, the Rev. Donald M. Hanson of that church officiating, and the Rev. Steven Howarth of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church taking part. Mr. Lupo was buried at Most Holy Trinity Cemetery in East Hampton, next to his first wife.

A celebration of the life of David Carney, a former United Nations economist, educator, and author who worked extensively in Africa and the West Indies before retiring to Sag Harbor in 1985, will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at the Bridgehampton Senior Center. Mr. Carney died on May 8 in Southampton.

An obituary will appear in a future issue.

Harold Ralston Simmons Jr., an internationally noted interior designer, died at home in East Hampton on Aug. 12. He was 74 and had been treated for cancer for six months.

Mr. Simmons was born on Dec. 8, 1939, in Clarksdale, Miss., to Harold R. Simmons and the former Frances Caffey. He grew up in Clarksdale and attended the University of Mississippi at Oxford, from which he graduated cum laude in 1961. After spending a year with Kimbrough-Goldate, a design firm in Memphis, Tenn., he came to New York to study at the Parsons School of Design. Soon after his arrival in New York in 1962, he met Peter J. van Hattum, his spouse, who survives him.

“I was in ‘The Sound of Music’ at the time,” Mr. van Hattum said, “and was on my way to Mary Martin’s party at the Waldorf-Astoria after the show. I stopped at a bar, where I met a friend who introduced me to Harold. He was 22, had just come to the city, and didn’t yet know anybody. We’ve been together ever since.”

Mr. Simmons and Mr. van Hattum first came to East Hampton in 1974 and lived for 20 years in the Settlers Landing area before moving into a house of their own design in the Grace Estate. They were active members of the East Hampton Historical Society and hosted a cocktail benefit for the organization in 2009.

Mr. Simmons graduated from Parsons with honors in 1965 and worked for a year at the architectural firm of Alfred Easton Pool before joining the decorating firm of Mrs. Henry Parish II, where he worked for Albert Hadley. When Parish and Hadley formed Parish-Hadley Inc., Mr. Simmons was named senior vice president and remained with the company until 1987. Subsequently, he and Mr. van Hattum formed Van Hattum and Simmons, a decorating firm that thrived until it was closed in 2013. The firm’s work was for embassies, residences, and country estates, and was often featured in showhouses in New York and Southampton.

In addition to Mr. van Hattum, whom he married on Sept. 7, 2011, Mr. Simmons is survived by a sister, Frances Simmons Keesee of Waynesville, N.C. A funeral service will take place Sept. 7  at 3 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton, the Rev. Denis Brunelle officiating. Mr. Simmons’s ashes will be put to rest in St. Luke’s memorial garden.

According to Mr. van Hattum, “Har­old loved the town pond. He said to me, ‘When I die, just dig a hole in the ground next to Lion Gardiner, put my ashes in a cigar box, and bury me there.’ I’ve come as close to that as I could.”

Memorial gifts in Mr. Simmons’s memory have been suggested to East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach 11978.

Marianne Toy of Sag Harbor Village, whose smile was the first thing people noticed about her, her family said, died on Aug. 5 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She was 60 and had been diagnosed with lung cancer in May.

“She was very caring and concerned about other people and whatever they were going through,” her daughter Emily Toy said. “But she was also very practical and honest. She’d tell you what you needed to know, even if you didn’t want to hear it.”

Even during her illness, she was thinking of others. She wrote her husband, Jerome, and her daughters, Rachel and Megan Toy in addition to Emily, telling them how lucky she felt to have had such a wonderful family to spend her life loving.

Born in Newark on May 29, 1954, to Ellis Faraday and Mary Burns Faraday, she was proud to share a birthday with President John F. Kennedy.

Her family moved to Sag Harbor when she was 2. She spent most of her life, including the last 15 years, in the same house on Jermain Avenue across the street from Pierson High School, from which she graduated in 1972.

A hard worker, she had a number of jobs in her younger years, including running a cleaning service, working as a florist, and working at several restaurants. For the last 15 years, she worked at the Hampton Dental Group in Southampton, first as an assistant and later as a member of the reception team.

She met her husband at the Corner Bar in Sag Harbor in 1978. They were married in 1986.

Her family was her focus. She loved to cook and host family and friends. She was passionate about food and “had a great palate,” Emily Toy said.

Her most cherished moments were spent relaxing and having a good time with loved ones, her family said. She enjoyed the beach and took pleasure in planting flowers in her yard. She was an enthusiastic reader and was especially excited for her daughters as they began to pursue careers in the arts.

In addition to her husband and children, all of whom live in Sag Harbor, Mrs. Toy is survived by two brothers, William Faraday of Rockville Centre and Robert Faraday of Plymouth, Mass., and a sister, Ellen Sowa of Wareham, Mass.

The family received friends on Sunday at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor. A Mass was celebrated on Monday at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in the village, followed by burial at the church’s cemetery.

Vera Lens Holden, a Montauk resident for over 40 years and one of the first occupants of a Leisurama house in Culloden Shores, died on Aug. 13 in Farmington, Conn. She was 96 years old and had been in an assisted living home in Farmington in recent years.

Jane E. Holden, her stepdaughter, talked about her this week. She was born to Norman and Ellen Williams in the rural town of Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, Canada, on Sept. 5, 1917, and grew up poor on a farm that had no running water until she was about 15. In the 1940s, she moved to Alaska, then an American territory, to work for the United States government. When she saw an ad for women to work as models in Manhattan, she left Alaska for the big city, where she found work as a hat model, and later with Pan American Airlines.

In the 1950s, she met and married Albert R. Holden. They lived first in Bayside, then in New Jersey, before making the move to Montauk. They bought their Leisurama directly from Macy’s, which was selling the line of inexpensive prefabricated houses in the mid-’60s. With two children of their own and four of Mr. Holden’s from a previous marriage, the couple became full-time residents of the easternmost hamlet.

Eventually Mrs. Holden went into the real-estate business, working for Pospisil. The Holdens became fixtures of the Montauk community. Mr. Holden, who once appeared on the cover of this newspaper as Santa Claus, was the author of “A Pictorial History of Montauk.” His wife became a member of the Montauk Community Church.

“She loved her gardens,” her stepdaughter said. She grew vegetables and flowers, and nursed African violet plants in the basement under lights.

After their children were grown the couple spent winters in Sanibel Island, Fla., famous for its exotic seashells. Mrs. Holden loved to walk the beaches collecting shells.

Her stepdaughter said she encouraged her to go into real estate. “She kept pushing me, telling me I’d be good.” Ms. Holden is now an associate broker.

Mr. Holden died in 2002. A few years later, Mrs. Holden moved to Farmington to be near her son, Jeff F. Holden of Barkhamstead, Conn., who survives.

Another son, Bert N. Holden, lives in Hobe Sound, Fla. She leaves four stepchildren, Ms. Holden, of Sag Harbor, Charles Holden of Kings Park, Clair Holden of Sag Harbor, and Albert Holden Jr. of Tampa, and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A sister, Lorine MacRae of Carlyle, Sas­katchewan, also survives.

A service was held at Valley Community Baptist Church in Avon, Conn., on Aug. 23. Memorial donations have been suggested for the Salvation Army, P.O. Box 628, Hartford, Conn., 06103, or the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, N.C., 28201.

Geraldine G. Webb, whose life was devoted to her family, her church, and traveling the nation’s roads and waterways with her husband, Richard F. Webb, who survives her, died at home in Punta Gorda, Fla., on July 14. She was 82 and had been ill for the past few years, her family said.

Mrs. Webb was born in East Hampton on May 24, 1932, to Norman and Abigail Gould, and lived on Toilsome Lane while growing up. After attending East Hampton High School, she graduated from Skidmore College in 1954. On Dec. 18, 1954, she married Mr. Webb, whom she knew growing up and called her “sandbox sweetheart.” The couple moved to Port Washington in 1955 but continued to spend summers in Montauk at the home of her husband’s father, Richard B. Webb Sr.

During the summers, the Webbs traveled throughout the Northeast and Midwest on a Krogen trawler, which they lived on. They also took to the road in a motor home owned by David and Gail Webb of Montauk, her brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

In 1996, the couple moved to Punta Gorda, where Mrs. Webb was a deacon in the Burnt Store Presbyterian Church and a member of its handbell choir. She was also a member and past president of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, which provides educational opportunities to women, and was active in Meals on Wheels.

According to Mrs. Webb’s daughters, who composed a statement for the funeral service, “Her creative abilities were boundless. She could throw a clambake, sew a wedding dress, write poetry, build a dollhouse, and anything else she set her mind to.”

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Webb is survived by three children, Pamela Bunn of Hawaii, Wendy Kimball of Doylestown, Pa., and Holly Gerraughty of Duxbury, Mass. A brother, Charles Gould of Water Mill, and eight grandchildren also survive. Her daughter Lori Webb predeceased her.

A funeral service was held on July 18 at the Burnt Store Presbyterian Church, led by the Rev. Tim Stewart, the church’s pastor. Her ashes were buried at Fort Hill Cemetery in Montauk.

The family has suggested donations to the Burnt Store Presbyterian Church, 11330 Burnt Store Road, Punta Gorda, Fla. 33955, or to Tidewell Hospice, 900 Tamiami Trail, #111, Punta Gorda, Fla. 33950.

Raymond J. McCarthy, a cabinet and furniture maker who lived in Montauk and Sag Harbor for more than 30 years, died of kidney failure related to prostate cancer complications on Saturday at Hyder Family Hospice House in Dover, N.H. He was 67 and lived in Wolfeboro, N.H.

Mr. McCarthy moved to Montauk from Kearny, N.J., in 1972 primarily because of his love of the water. He became close friends with many of the local fishermen and cooked at several Montauk restaurants, including the Westlake Fishing Lodge, the Montauket, and the Montauk Yacht Club, where he met his wife, Denise Bernier McCarthy, who survives him.

For 20 years, until he moved to New Hampshire in 2005, he operated Ray McCarthy Custom Woodwork and left his “brand” on a number of pieces on the South Fork. After moving to Wolfeboro, he worked as facilities manager for the Wright Museum, where he built display cases and other custom furniture for the museum’s World War II-related collections.

Mr. McCarthy was born in Kearny on Sept. 9, 1946, to Raymond J. McCarthy and the former Isabel McCauley. He served in the Army in Vietnam from 1965 to 1967. He married Denise Bernier on Jan. 29, 1979. While living here, he had several magazine articles published and was a regular contributor to The East Hampton Star’s fiction column. A self-taught pedal steel guitar player, he performed with a band in New Hampshire.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two children, Matthew McCarthy of Wolfeboro and James McCarthy of East Wakefield, N.H., and four siblings, Sue Ackerson and Jeanne Stout of Toms River, N.J., MaryAnn Ragany of Princeton, N.J., and Lorraine McCarthy of Atlantic City.

A funeral service will be held today at 10:30 a.m. at First Christian Church in Wolfeboro, of which he was a member. The Rev. Thom Christian will preside. Mr. McCarthy will be buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Wolfeboro.

The family has suggested memorial contributions to Hyder Family Hospice House, 285 County Farm Road, Dover, N.H. 03820.