Shirley Anne Lesko Weinstein Mole of Sag Harbor, a singer and aficionado of the Great American Songbook, died on March 25 in Fort Mill, S.C., of complications related to congestive heart failure. She was 81.
Her many friends “will sorely miss her wisdom, wit, and tremendous musical talent,” her family said. One of them, David Alpern, a fellow Sag Harborite, recalled meeting her husband, Don Mole, who survives her, over tennis in the village. He said he had to leave for bagpipe practice and would Mr. Alpern like to meet his wife?
“Both were ‘love matches,’ ” Mr. Alpern said, “one humiliating, the other everlasting.”
The two friends shared much music together, “from Nancy LaMott CDs to Shirley’s Manhattan cabaret debut at the now gone Danny’s Skylight Room with pianist David Lahm (who discovered her at our Christmas singalong),” Mr. Alpern wrote in an online tribute. She even serenaded him at his wedding to Sylvia Clark at Manhattan’s storied Oak Room.
“Her voice, her vim, her kindness, wisdom, and joy will all be so missed by so many,” he said. Ms. Mole was born on March 17, 1939, a native of Binghamton, N.Y., and later lived in New Canaan, Conn., and Rush, N.Y., as well as Sag Harbor.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by three children, Karen Weinstein of Bethel, Conn., Victoria Weinstein of Lynn, Mass., and John (Chip) Weinstein of Rydal, Pa.; four stepchildren, six grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
Memorial donations can be made in her name to the Retreat, a shelter and service provider for victims of domestic abuse and their children in East Hampton, at theretreatinc.org/donate.