Ellen Dracker, 88

Ellen Emma Dracker, who lived in East Hampton for 67 of her 88 years, died on Saturday at Southampton Hospital. She had suffered a broken femur and a series of strokes in May.

Mrs. Dracker was fun-loving and family-oriented, her children wrote, always welcoming guests with her latest home-baked treat, as warmly as if they were members of the family. Among her specialties were brownies, sour cream twists, and stollen, a traditional German cake.

Born in Queens on April 16, 1926, to Werner Graulich, a carbonic gas and beer distributor, and the former Ella Smith, Mrs. Dracker took up ballet and tap-dancing as a child and later demonstrated her skills in an instructional film for Paramount Pictures. She also worked as a hat and hand model, and as a telephone operator for the New York Telephone Company in Brooklyn. She enjoyed horseback riding in Central Park and going to the movies, her family said.

Writing letters to servicemen from her neighborhood who were fighting in World War II, she came to know her future husband. When George Dracker, who survives, returned from the war, they were married, on Aug. 28, 1945. They lived in Carmel, N.Y., later settling in East Hampton when Mr. Dracker took a job as a linotype operator at The Star.

After living on Main Street for several years, the couple built a house on Dayton Lane, where their six children grew up. Mrs. Dracker served as a Brownie and Girl Scout leader and volunteered for the Dominican Sisters and the Altar Society of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church here.

In addition to her husband of 69 years, she is survived by her children, Barbara Dracker and Pune Dracker of New York City, Patricia Dracker and George Dracker of East Hampton, Ellen Dracker Mullen of Hyattsville, Md., and Merilyn Dracker Bellafiore of Sag Harbor. Four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren also survive, as do many nieces and nephews. A brother and sister died before her.

A funeral Mass was offered yesterday at Most Holy Trinity before burial in the church cemetery. The family has suggested memorial donations to Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 79 Buell Lane, East Hampton 11937, or Smile Train, which provides training and funding for local doctors in developing countries to provide free cleft-lip repair, at P.O. Box 96231, Washington, D.C. 20090-6231, or smiletrain.org.

“In honor of Ellen’s beautiful life,” her family wrote, “hand-write a letter to someone you love or enjoy a dish of chocolate ice cream, old-fashioned Hershey’s if you can get it, with whipped cream and a cherry on top.”