Obituaries

Robert D. Mulford, who served as organist and choir director of the East Hampton Methodist Church and the Springs Presbyterian Church for many years until his retirement in 2001, died of congestive heart failure on Sept. 22 at D’Youville Senior Care, the long-term nursing facility of the D’Youville Life and Wellness Community in Lowell, Mass. He was 89 and had been in declining health, his family said.

Madeline Patricia Betts, who spent much of her life in Sag Harbor as both a year-round and summer resident, died at Sem Haven, a residential care center in Milford, Ohio, on Sept. 29. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease six years ago, her family said. She was 90.

Monica M. Brennan, a former owner of the Blue Haven Motel in Montauk, died in Mountain Lakes, N.J., on Saturday, two weeks before her 82nd birthday, after a brief illness.

Mrs. Brennan and her husband, Thomas Brennan, had lived in Rockland County for 20 years, where they raised seven children. Mr. Brennan enjoyed fishing in Montauk, and they moved there in 1978, buying the Blue Haven Motel. “Montauk was the beginning of many special moments and lasting memories,” her family said.

Thomasina Rana Graham, who was born in Amagansett, died on Sept. 27 at home in Naples, Me. Stewart R. Graham Sr., her husband of more than 70 years, was at her bedside. She was 95.

Known to friends and family as Mae or Maizie, Mrs. Graham was born on Sept. 12, 1919, the second child of Peter and Rose Rana of Amagansett. While working at the former Dominy Guest House in East Hampton, she met her husband, who was serving with the Coast Guard at its old Georgica Station in East Hampton.

Frances Starr Todd, a teacher and philanthropist who spent summers in East Hampton, died on Aug. 28 at home in Far Hills, N.J. She was 73 and had cancer.

She was married to John Todd, whose grandparents were among the first families to build summer houses on Dunemere Lane in East Hampton. The couple lived there for a time, her daughter, Mary Starr Todd Ganzenmuller, said. She later lived on Buell Lane in a house that became a gathering place for several generations of the family.

George Thomas Proferes, a longtime owner of the Paradise restaurant in Sag Harbor Village, which was in his family for close to 80 years, died at Huntington Hospital on Friday. He was 75 and had pneumonia, after having had lung problems for 30 years, his wife, Carroll Proferes, said.

Vernal Harold Lafoe, a former resident of East Hampton, died of cancer on Sept. 17 at the Hospice of Citrus County in Lecanto, Fla. He was 88.

One of six children, Mr. Lafoe was born on June 7, 1926, in Brownington, a small town in northern Vermont, to Harold and Pearl Lafoe. In 1944, at the age of 18, he enlisted in the Navy and served with the Seabees, the Navy construction battalion, in the South Pacific.

William G. Abel, East Hampton’s pre-eminent surgeon as well as the chief of surgery at Southampton Hospital for many years, died on Aug. 15 at his home on Baiting Hollow Road here. He was 92.

Annette MacNiven, a world-class mountain-biker who competed in Xterra championships in Hawaii, California, Colorado, and Utah, and who taught swimming to I-Tri girls and members of the Hurricanes youth swim team at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, died on Sept. 16 at Southampton Hospital, where she was on life support. She was 56.

Her husband, Tom, said his wife of 30 years had “a strong will, and a huge heart, both physically and emotionally. Her heart was the last thing to stop.”

Anthony Mammano, who had his own business making custom cabinetry and doing glasswork, died at Southampton Hospital after a short illness. He was 63 and had recently had several strokes and pneumonia.

Mr. Mammano, who was known as Tony, was a member of the Living Water Full Gospel Church in Wainscott, where he volunteered to help run the food pantry. He also volunteered his time for fund-raisers for the East Hampton Food Pantry and for the Clamshell Foundation here.

Barbara Osborn Babinski Meyer, a Wainscott resident whose roots go back to John Osborn, one of the first settlers of the hamlet, died at home surrounded by her family on Aug. 31 after a brief illness. 

Mrs. Babinski Meyer is in the 10th generation of Osborns who live in the Town of East Hampton. John Osborn, the son of Thomas Osborne, who followed Lion Gardiner here in 1670, dropped the last letter of his surname, according to Hilary Osborn Malecki, the family historian. Twelve generations later, his descendants still live in Wainscott.

Emmett Clarence Bennett, a lifetime resident of Springs and Wainscott, died of Huntington’s disease at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook on Sept. 16. He was 67 and had been ill for years.

Mr. Bennett graduated from East Hampton High School with the class of 1964 and joined the Air Force two years later, serving as a mechanic for about four years. His roots here went way back. He was born at Southampton Hospital on Oct. 26, 1946, to Clarence Bennett and the former Clara Payne; he was related to the Lester family as well.

Harry Lee Hinson, an interior designer who founded Hinson & Company, a leading wallpaper, textile, and lighting company, died on Sept. 4 at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital in Manhattan. He was 76.

A memorial service celebrating the life of James H. Schneider, who worked for more than 30 years with the University of Michigan’s sports information department, retiring as a public and media relations director in 2008 because of ill health, is to be held at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church on Oct. 6 at 1:30 p.m.

Rich Schneider, his younger brother, said the service will be followed by a reception at the Session House. James Schneder died in Ann Arbor on July 22 at the age of 63 as the result of congestive heart failure.

Robert E. Kalbacher, the founder of Kalbacher’s Auto in Springs, died on July 19 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 82. The cause of death was congestive heart failure. He had been in ill health for a few years, his family said.

Mr. Kalbacher, known as Bob, started his auto repair business in 1964 and expanded it to include storage in 1981. Kalbacher’s Auto, which specializes in imported cars, is now run by his son Robert Kalbacher of East Hampton.

Andrea Kathleen Stein, who spent summers in Montauk throughout her life, died on Friday in Rohnert Park, Calif. She was 52 and had cancer for the past six years.

In the last entry of her day book, Ernestine Lassaw wrote, “At 101 I believe I have had a magic life.” Ms. Lassaw, who lived full time in Springs for half of her long life, died at Southampton Hospital on Aug. 15.

“As a summation of one’s life this is a happy and satisfied view to inhabit,” her daughter, Denise Elaine Lassaw, said, noting that “this way of looking at one’s self was not something that arrived in old age, which she never acknowledged, but rather just the way her mind worked throughout her life. She knew how to flow.”

Visiting hours for Annette MacNiven will be held on Monday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. Ms. MacNiven, a world-class mountain-biker, and a runner and swimming instructor, died on Tuesday at Southampton Hospital, where she had been on life support. She was 56. 

A celebration of her life is to be held at her house at 7 Knoll Lane in Wainscott on Sept. 27. 

Ilie Wacs, a celebrated coat designer and part-time Wainscott Main Street resident, died on Sept. 7 at home in Manhattan. The cause was cancer, his publicist, Susan Arpin, said. He was 86.

From the late 1960s to the 1980s, the women’s coats and suits he designed were frequently seen in The New York Times, Women’s Wear Daily, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and other fashion magazines.

Joan Marie Aldrich, who was known as Mimi and with her husband had owned several Sag Harbor businesses, died on Sept. 8 at Scott White Hospital in Temple, Tex., of complications from diabetes. She was 81, and had been ill for some time. Her three children and a number of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were with her at the time of her death, her family said.

Milton M. George, a former commercial fisherman who lived in Amagansett and East Hampton, died on Sept. 9 surrounded by loved ones at his son’s house in Noyac, where he had lived for the past year. He was 88 and had several ailments, including colon cancer and heart problems, his daughter-in-law Susan George said.

Richard B. Hammer, a Springs summer and weekend resident since 1971, died of cancer on Aug. 22 at his retirement home in Naples, Fla. He was 79, and had been diagnosed not long before.

Born on Feb. 26, 1935, Mr. Hammer grew up on Chicago’s South Side, graduating from Navy Pier High School there and then from the University of Illinois Urbana-Cambria, with a B.S. in marketing.

Stephen L. Marley Jr. didn’t just teach history, he was a keeper of it. Mr. Marley, an East Hampton High School teacher for 32 years, also coached the school’s golf and winning junior varsity basketball teams in the 1960s and he played on and managed a number of men’s slow-pitch softball teams over 30 years, keeping their score books.

Even years later, if anyone had a question about a game’s outcome, they would call him, his wife, Corinne Marro Marley said.

Anneliese Schieferstein, who lived on Rolling Woods Court in Wainscott for about 25 years, died there last Thursday, five days shy of her 90th birthday. She had been in declining health for some time and in hospice care for about two weeks, said her son, Ernest George Schieferstein Jr.

    A joint memorial service for Dorothy and Walter Bennett of Cross Highway, Amagansett, will be held at Oak Grove Cemetery in Amagansett at 1 p.m. on Sept. 20. Mr. Bennett died on March 31 of prostate cancer. He was 83. Mrs. Bennett died in 2008. The Bennetts ran Brent’s Store in Amagansett for many years. Mr. Bennett was also a commercial fisherman.

Christine D. Barnes, who, with her husband of 61 years, made Amagansett her summer home for many years, died at home there on Aug. 20. Her family said her death was due to cardiopulmonary arrest and unexpected. Known as Chris, Mrs. Barnes, a physical education teacher in Highland, N.Y., for almost 40 years, was 86.

Douglas Mulaire, an artist, educator, and fishing and gardening enthusiast, died of pancreatic cancer on Monday at home in East Hampton. He was 65.

A professor of photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, he lived in Brooklyn as well as East Hampton. He “loved the light and beauty of the East End,” his wife, Susan Taylor, wrote.

George Tilghman, who was known as Fletcher and had owned his own upholstery business, Fletcher’s Interiors, in East Hampton, died on Aug. 4 at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Md., after a lengthy illness. He was 75 and had experienced complications from diabetes, according to his wife, Judy Tilghman.

Irvin Choron, who was “bitten by the Montauk bug when he caught a record-breaking striper off the beach at Atlantic Terrace in the 1960s,” died on Aug. 31 at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Conn. He was 86 and had been ill with pneumonia for a week.

Mr. Choron lived in Rye, N.Y., and had a second home on Old Montauk Highway in Montauk starting in the 1970s, “spending as much time there with his wife and family as possible, casting into the surf on the Hither Hills beaches,” his family said.

Joan A. Schellinger was many things — a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a volunteer — and will be remembered as a woman who cared deeply about her family, letting them know they were at the center of her life, they said.

A native of Bridgehampton who lived in Springs for many years, Mrs. Schellinger died on Aug. 30 at Southampton Hospital, surrounded by her family. She was 78 and had cancer.