Rhoda H. Bation

Rhoda H. Bation, who came to know East Hampton several decades ago when her son Matthew S. Dienstag was living here, and who retired here in 1999, died in her sleep on Friday at his house in Rock Stream, N.Y., in the Finger Lakes region. She was 79.

Early in her career, Ms. Bation was employed by Suffolk County as a social worker. Later, she worked for the New York City Department of Probation’s investigations unit, where, said her son, she devised an approach used to train new probation officers in pre-sentencing investigations that has become a model nationwide.

After moving to East Hampton, Ms. Bation, a “diehard” member of the Republican Party, volunteered in the campaigns of several Long Island Republican politicians and was a poll watcher for the Suffolk County Board of Elections. In 2008, she worked in the front office of The Star for about six months. In addition to her interest in politics, she cared a lot about animals and was a supporter of Elsa’s Ark, the East Hampton rescue organization.

She was born on Aug. 25, 1937, in Brooklyn, one of two daughters of Harold Shrednick and the former Blanche Kustoff. Her sister, Sonya Sherman of Georgia, survives.

She graduated from Eastern District High School in Brooklyn with the class of 1955, and later, with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, from the State University at Westbury. Her marriage in 1955 to Harold Dienstag ended in the mid-1960s; he died in 1993. 

On July 4, 1988, Ms. Bation married Lee Bation, an Army veteran who was the commander of American Legion Post 419 in Amagansett, and became a member of the Legion’s Ladies Auxiliary. Mr. Bation died in 2011.

In addition to her sister and her son in Rock Stream, Ms. Bation is survived by another son, William D. Dienstag of New York City, a stepson, Daniel Bation of Melbourne, Fla., eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. 

Condolences can be sent to the Baird Funeral Home, 36 West Water Street, Dundee, N.Y. 14837, or online at bairdfuneralhomedundee.com.