Margaret Hindra, 83
Margaret Hindra, who came to the United States from Ireland in the early 1950s as a young woman and later retired to Springs with her husband, Valentine Hindra, died on Sept. 1 at home at Windmill Village in East Hampton. She was 83 and had Parkinson’s disease, her son, Matt Hindra, said.
Mrs. Hindra was a strong force in their family, a matriarch, he said, and the center of a large group of friends.
She was born a twin on Nov. 28, 1933, to Timothy Buckley and the former Mary Sexton on the family farm.
She would be one of the couple’s 15 children, among the family’s youngest, and attended a one-room schoolhouse with students coming from three farming families spread out across 50 miles of the rural Cork landscape.
The farm was modest, raising cows for milk to sell, as well as chickens. Matt Hindra recalled that his mother would recite a rhyme to teach him and his sister the names of all of her siblings.
In the post-World War II early 1950s things were not so good in Ireland, so the still-young Miss Buckley left for London, seeking opportunity. She found work there as a baby nurse, remaining until she got a visa to come to the U.S. in 1962.
Living in New York City, she began work in elder care, staying in a client’s apartment for a few years. While there, she met Valentine Hindra, who was a doorman in the building where she worked, and romance, then marriage, ensued.
The couple saved money and eventually bought a small cottage in Hampton Bays, which they had used for a getaway and a place from which to launch fishing trips in the summers, and they moved there full time in the 1970s, looking for a safer place than New York City to raise their two children. At one point, they owned a motel in Hampton Bays, their son said. At another point, the Hindras worked at an estate outside of London.
Later on, the Hindras moved to a house on Woodbine Drive in Springs, Mr. Hindra by then having become a serious painter. They worked as caretakers, minding the Dean family property in East Hampton Village at one time.
Home life was important to Mrs. Hindra. There were almost constant card games at the house, both in New York City and Springs, Matt Hindra said. “She was fast friends with anyone from Ireland,” he said, “and she loved it here.”
Walks on the bay beach were a special pleasure for her, her son said. The family always owned a small boat, and Mrs. Hindra would enjoy relaxing aboard it while her husband clammed or fished.
Mrs. Hindra loved to travel, her son said, making yearly trips to Ireland to see family, as well as taking sightseeing trips in San Francisco and Switzerland, among other places.
Her husband survives her, as do their children, Matt Hindra of East Hampton, and Mary Anne Difatta of Trout Valley, Ill., and two grandchildren, as well as four of her siblings.
Mrs. Hindra was buried at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery on Cedar Street in East Hampton on Sept. 5. The Rev. Ryan Creamer officiated at a graveside service that was attended by a large number of people, including several relatives from Ireland.
Matt Hindra suggested donations in his mother’s memory to the National Parkinson Foundation, 200 S.E. 1st Street, Suite 800, Miami, Fla. 33131.