Clara Hamilton, 85
Clara Hamilton, who had been the secretary of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church for 30 years before she retired about 10 years ago, died on Jan. 18 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton, where she had been for six months. She was 85 and had been in poor health for a number of years, her family said.
In addition to her work at the church, she was a member of its women’s guild and had been a past member of the Amagansett Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary. She also served for 15 years as the treasurer of Ducks Unlimited’s East Hampton chapter.
She was born in Greenport on Aug. 4, 1931, to Carl Creaser and the former Elsie Berg. Her childhood years were spent in the fishing village in Montauk, where her father ran a fishing dragger. After the Navy took over the land along Fort Pond Bay in the run-up to World War II, her family moved to Amagansett, living for a time on Oak Lane before having a house built on Miankoma Lane.
She graduated from East Hampton High School with the class of 1949.
Once she married Richard M. Hamilton of Amagansett, the couple lived on Windmill Lane in that hamlet for 35 years and then moved to the Hamilton family house on Abraham’s Path in East Hampton after her husband’s parents died. She was fond of needlepoint, crossword puzzles, and reading, her family said.
Mr. Hamilton died in 2007.
She is survived by a sister, Evelyn Merrill of East Hampton, and a brother, George Creaser of Micco, Fla. Two sons, Richard Hamilton Jr. and Carl Hamilton, live in Amagansett. She is also survived by three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A brother, Carl Creaser Jr., died before her. Her family expressed their thanks to Lisa Charde and the East Hampton Town Adult Day Care program for all they did for her during the past six and a half years.
A service was held at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Saturday, with burial following at Oak Grove Cemetery in Amagansett.
Memorial donations have been suggested to the Amagansett Presbyterian Church or to the Amagansett Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, P.O. Box 911, Amagansett 11930.