Geraldine Cronin-Soszynski traced her roots here back many generations. She was born Geraldine Alice Miller on April 12, 1926, in Amagansett to Russell Miller, a fisherman in Springs and Montauk, and the former Elizabeth Fitzgerald. She spent most of her formative years in Montauk, Springs, and Amagansett.
She was a niece of the late Milton Miller of East Hampton, who was also a commercial fisherman, and the great-great-grandniece of Jonathan Miller, one of the keepers of the Montauk Lighthouse.
Mrs. Cronin-Soszynski died on Nov. 13 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton, where she was known as Gigi. She was 96 and had dementia.
At 20, she married Richard M. (Dick) Cronin II on Dec 7, 1946. They lived in Amagansett for a short while, and after having two sons moved to West Islip around 1954, where their third son was born. They later moved to Virginia Beach and lived there for 17 years.
Mr. Cronin died on March 10, 1986, and she moved back to New York that year. After her first husband’s death, she had a brief marriage to Zigmunt (Ziggie) Soszynski, who died in 1991.
In her later years, she lived briefly with her son Keith Cronin and his wife, Jacquie, in Shirley. They survive, as does another son, Stephen Cronin of Riverhead. Her eldest son, Richard M. (Mike) Cronin III, died on Nov. 15, 2021, but his wife, Ivana Cooke, and their son, Jason Cronin of Italy, survive. She also leaves another grandson, Stephen Andrews, and a granddaughter, Adriana Cronin of East Hampton, and Adriana’s mother, Tonya Bennett, also of East Hampton.
She is survived as well by two siblings, Joyce Talley of Abilene, Tex., and Millicent (Missy) Megginson of Rome, N.Y., and a niece, Kim Megginson, also of Rome.
Her younger brother, Russell (Sammy) Miller II, died several years ago.
“She was loved by all and will be missed,” her family wrote.
A spring service will be planned. At her request, her ashes will be dispersed in Virginia Beach, where those of her first husband were also dispersed.
