Skip to main content

RoseMarie Boyle Raffel

Thu, 04/27/2023 - 10:49

Sept. 21, 1938 - April 8, 2023

“In the summer, all the boys of the neighborhood would line up on the side deck of our house in Wainscott, and my mother would give them haircuts,” Karen DeFronzo said of her mother, RoseMarie Boyle Raffel.

Born on Sept. 21 during the Hurricane of 1938, Ms. Raffel died of lung cancer on April 8 in Port St. Lucie, Fla. She was 84. At the start of the storm, her parents, Joseph Boyle and the former Elizabeth McCaffery, caught the last ferry from Shelter Island to Greenport, where she was born at Eastern Long Island Hospital. Ms. DeFronzo said that just like the hurricane, she was a force, but a force of love.

Her father died when she was young, and so she took on a caregiving role to help her mother. “She always made things special,” Ms. DeFronzo said. “When we would take long drives to visit her, she always had a crockpot of pot roast waiting for us when we arrived, and chocolate cake. She knew it was my husband’s favorite.”

Ms. Raffel grew up on the North Fork and in Sag Harbor, graduating from Pierson High School before marrying “the love of her life,” Joseph J. Raffel Jr. of Southampton, in 1957. The couple had five children. They moved to Wainscott in 1965, where they lived until 1992 before moving to Jupiter, Fla. Mr. Raffel died last year.

She was a waitress at John Duck’s restaurant in Southampton for 17 years, but also worked at Home Sweet Home Moving and Storage and Sapore di Mare restaurant, both in Wainscott.

“We’d watch the Fourth of July parade from the lawn at John Duck’s. One year she made matching outfits for me and my two sisters to wear,” Ms. DeFronzo said.

She will be remembered as the neighborhood mom, who fed, watched over, and counseled many local kids, her family said. When the boys started a ball team called the Wainscott Wildcats, she formed an arts and crafts club for the girls. Her home was seen as a safe haven. She was known for hosting holiday gatherings and large family parties, her specialties being kielbasa with sauerkraut, baked ziti, and cobbler.

In addition to Ms. DeFronzo, she is survived by her four other children, Michael Raffel of Cambridge, N.Y., Carolyn Fitzgerald of East Hampton, Joseph J. Raffel III of Port St. Lucie, and Doreen O’Connor of Las Vegas. She leaves two brothers, Dennis Boyle of Sag Harbor and Joseph Boyle of Texas. She had 15 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

A service will be held at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Sag Harbor on Saturday at 11 a.m., the Rev. Manuel Zuzarte officiating. The family has suggested memorial contributions to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, Tenn. 38105.

Villages

Volunteers Take Up Invasives War at Morton

Most people go to the Elizabeth Morton Wildlife Refuge in Noyac, part of the National Wildlife Refuge system, to feed the friendly birds. On Saturday, however, 15 people showed up instead to rip invasive plants out of the ground.

Apr 24, 2025

Item of the Week: Wild Times at Jungle Pete’s

A highlight among Springs landmarks, here is a storied eatery and watering hole that served countless of the hamlet’s residents, including the Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock.

Apr 24, 2025

The Sweet Smell of Nostalgia at Sagaponack General

Stepping into the new Sagaponack General Store, which reopened yesterday after being closed since 2020, is a sweet experience, and not just because there’s a soft-serve ice cream station on the left and what promises to be the biggest penny candy selection on the South Fork on your right, but because it’s like seeing an old friend who, after some struggle, made it big. Really, really big.

Apr 17, 2025

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.