To say Vernice Mae Fordham North was a Sag Harbor native is an understatement. She was a direct descendant of Nathan Fordham Esq., who fought for the colonists during the Revolutionary War, and an 11th-generation descendant of the Rev. Robert Fordham, the second Presbyterian minister to the Southampton Colony.
Ms. North died at home in Noyac on Feb. 5. She was 98.
The only child of Raymond Edward Fordham and the former Winifred Ramsay, she was born on Jan. 19, 1927, and grew up in their home on Cove Avenue East in Noyac. She attended the Sag Harbor Elementary School and Pierson High School before moving with her first husband, Stanley R. Osborn, to Alexander, W.Va., where they had a daughter, Sharon Ann.
She returned to Noyac when their daughter was 6 months old and moved into her parents’ home until 1956, when she married Howard G. North. The couple settled in a house on Noyac Road. Mr. North died in 1978.
Ms. North worked at the Ideal newspaper and magazine store on Main Street in Sag Harbor, the New York Telephone Company on Union Street, and the Maidstone Golf Club in East Hampton, and she managed the coffee shop at Southampton Hospital. She also provided child care in her home for many families.
A member of the American Legion Auxiliary in Sag Harbor, she took part in quilting and sewing groups and was the oldest living member of the Old Whalers Church.
Her family said she enjoyed crossword puzzles, Sag Harbor Community Band concerts on Bay Street, cooking, dogs, boating, and swimming. “She was very caring, vibrant, and giving. Her knowledge of family history was articulate, and her stories of families on both the South and North Forks were extensive, colorful, and detailed. She was blessed with a fine mind and almost total recall until the day she died.”
She is survived by her three children, Sharon Botto of Noyac and Jorae Brennan and Howard North Jr., both of Sag Harbor. Six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson also survive.
A memorial service will be held at the Old Whalers Church on Saturday at 1 p.m. Burial will follow at Oakland Cemetery, after which a reception and celebration of her life will take place at the American Legion Hall on Bay Street.
The family has suggested donations to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation at t2t.org/donate, the Wounded Warrior Project at woundedwarriorproject.org/donate, the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons at arfhamptons.org, or another charity of choice.
