Eileen M. Buquicchio

Eileen M. Buquicchio, who was 88, died at home on Middle Highway in  East Hampton on Friday. She had suffered a series of strokes over the last seven months and died in her sleep.

Mrs. Buquicchio was a homemaker, devoted to her children and grandchildren. “She was devoted to her faith and drew strength from that faith to face life’s challenges,” Gail Buquicchio, her daughter-in-law, said in a eulogy. “As a family we came to rely on her strength, her steadfastness, her resilience, and her optimism.”

“She was always telling a joke — always making us laugh,” Maryann Buquicchio, her daughter, said. At family gatherings, she loved a good game of poker, and her opponents could always count on losing a bit of money.

Born Eileen Stack on Dec. 13, 1925, in Manhattan, she was one of eight children of Daniel Stack and the former Mary Sheehy, Irish immigrants. She grew up in a small apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where life was lively, as one might imagine with 10 people. “There was music and laughter and a strong bond and a connection to her Irish clan,” Gail Buquicchio said.

She and Daniel Buquicchio were married on Sept. 4, 1949, after meeting at Rockaway Beach on a summer afternoon. The couple spent their honeymoon traveling across the country and to Mexico. They raised five children in Lindenhurst, where they lived for 33 years and where Mrs. Buquicchio was an active member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church. They moved to East Hampton in 1988. Mr. Buquicchio died in May 1997, after 48 years of marriage.

Mrs. Buquicchio is survived by her children: Vincent Buquicchio of East Hampton, Ellen D’Errico of West Haven, Conn., Dr. Daniel Buquicchio of Seattle, Thomas Buquicchio of Montauk, and Maryann Buquicchio of East Hampton. Four grandchildren also survive, as does a sister, MaryEllen Zerillo of Syracuse, N.Y.

Visiting hours were at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Tuesday. A Mass was offered at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton, of which she was a member, yesterday morning, followed by burial at the church cemetery.