Maria-Louise Sidoroff, a teacher, archaeologist who traveled the world, and Montauker, died last Thursday in Hobe Sound, Fla., after a prolonged illness. She was 87.
“My mother was a force. She was very well known, and she let it be known how to do things right and how to do things well,” Oona Sidoroff said. “She was very educated, driven, independent, and the life of the party. She had very high standards on what she expected from everyone.”
Ms. Sidoroff earned a bachelor’s degree at Columbia’s Teachers College, where she met her future husband, Michael Sidoroff. After both became teachers, the free summers that occupation afforded them allowed them to explore Montauk. They bought a house on Caswell Road in 1967. Mr. Sidoroff died in 2010.
“We’ve been out here a very long time, and my mother was very involved in the community,” her daughter said. Ms. Sidoroff was born in New York City on Aug. 4, 1936, to Frederick Necker and the former Margaret Mullany.
Her daughter remembered family vacations during the 1960s at what’s now known as the Montauk trailer park, but which started as a tent camping area with cabanas, bungalows, and cabooses. But they wouldn’t go there just to relax. The whole family would work at Gosman’s Dock. “We were very good friends with the Gosman family,” she said.
In fact, last summer, despite her age and illness, Ms. Sidoroff made a point of completing a Montauk Library archival project of photos from Gosman’s taken in 1975. “It was a really nice way to reminisce and visit the people who worked there. It was a fun thing that she did and a great way to interact with all those people,” her daughter said.
She also took a final swim in the ocean at age 86.
It was while she was still a schoolteacher that Ms. Sidoroff went on sabbatical to attend archaeological excavations in northern Peru, the Golan Heights, and Madaba, Jordan. After retiring, she had a second career in archaeology, receiving a Ph.D. in the discipline from Union Institute and University in Cincinnati. She also had an M.F.A. from Montclair State University in New Jersey.
“She always did archaeology on the side,” her daughter said. “Her main interest was in ceramics. She would try to figure out what people used clay pottery for in the times of their existence.”
In addition to her daughter, who lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Ms. Sidoroff is survived by another daughter, Fredrika Sidoroff of New York City, and by a sister, Kathleen Pottick. A son, Michael Sidoroff, died before her.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
