Florence Thiele and her husband, the late Roger H. Thiele, started spending time in East Hampton at his parents’ house on Lily Pond Lane in the early 1950s. Mrs. Thiele died of congestive heart failure on April 15 at Mariner Sands, a private community in Stuart, Fla. She was 94 and had been ill for only a short time.
She was born in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sept. 6, 1927, the daughter of the former Helen L. Hapeman and Spencer Toll Lainhart Sr. She Lived with her parents there until she married Mr. Thiele in the old Poinciana Chapel in Palm Beach on Feb. 26, 1954; he was from Scarsdale, N.Y. She graduated from the Graham Ecke School in Palm Beach and attended Ogontz Junior College in Philadelphia, which later became part of Penn State University.
Mrs. Thiele was a devoted volunteer, working every summer at the Crippled Children Society in Palm Beach as well as at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., where she was one of the first hundred volunteers when it opened its doors. She was active in the Junior League of Westchester, the Sleepy Hollow Garden Club, and the Second Reformed Church in Tarrytown.
Modeling in the Palm Beaches was something she enjoyed for about 10 years and was in demand for, her family said. She wore the Empress Josephine Diamond Tiara the first time it was shown in Palm Beach by Van Cleef & Arpels. She also did modeling work for Saks Fifth Avenue Holiday magazine, Palm Beach Life, and The Social Spectator.
She and her husband lived in North Tarrytown for 32 years before moving to Mariner Sands in 1986. As well as being members of the Maidstone Club here, they were also members of the Mariner Sands Country Club in Stuart and former members of the Sleepy Hollow Country Club. Mrs. Thiele enjoyed the games of croquet, golf, and tennis, as well as playing in hand and foot card games, somewhat like canasta, which she hosted weekly at her house.
Mrs. Thiele’s stepdaughter, Karen Eighmy McVie, died in 2002. Her two daughters, Deborah T. Nadjadi of Pleasantville, N.Y., and Wendy T. Burns of Wanaque, N.J., survive, as does her son, Christopher E. Thiele of Bondville, Vt. She leaves nine grandchildren: Kasey Nadjadi, Tara Burns, Nicholas Burns, Travis Thiele, Tucker Thiele, Dillon Thiele, Tyne Thiele, Raleigh Thiele, and Devon Thiele. Nine great-grandchildren also survive: Auden Thiele, Nalani Thiele, Jameson Thiele, Avienda Thiele, Stella Thiele, Teagan Thiele, Rowan Thiele, Adeline Thiele, and Kava Kraft.
A memorial service will be held at the Mariner Sands Chapel on May 14, with interment of ashes at the Chapel Gardens to follow.