Obituaries

After graduating from U.C.L.A., where he majored in philosophy, Alvin Novak moved to New York in 1957 with no intention of becoming a professional musician, despite having been a precocious pianist as a child. Things took a turn, however, when he resumed his piano studies and was encouraged by Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale, a well-known American two-piano ensemble.

Adam Lewis, who served briefly as assisting clergy at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton, was a man of many talents and accomplishments. An Episcopal rector for nearly three decades, he left parish ministry to study at the Parsons School of Design and establish an interior decorating practice that remained active until two years ago.

Bernard Ray, a 15-year member of the Montauk Fire Department and a veteran of the United States Navy, was "a kind and caring person with both people and animals," his wife said. He died at home in Montauk on April 5 of complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Reggie Jackson was an early mountain bike enthusiast whose love of the sport was sparked at BikeHampton in Amagansett, where he worked in the mid-1970s. He "elevated the welding of bicycles into an art form," his family said. He died of sudden complications from a spinal chord injury sustained during an October mountain biking accident in California that left him almost completely paralyzed.

A funeral for R. Alice Johnson will be held on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Amagansett. The 94-year-old East Hampton resident died on Friday in Southampton. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

June Alice Kaplan of East Hampton, a painter and poet, died in her sleep on April 7 at her mother's home in New York City. She was 69.

Constance Clarke Greene came to writing honestly. Her grandfather Arthur L. Clarke was the first managing editor of The Daily News, and her father, Richard W. Clarke, held the same position until he retired in 1968. Ms. Clarke worked as a reporter for the Associated Press during World War II before marrying, raising five children, and embarking on a career as a prolific author of children's books.

Walter J. Thomason of East Hampton worked for 31 years with the Suffolk County Department of Public Works, but in his spare time, he pursued many interests. At various points in his life he raised and showed prize bantam chickens, raced homing pigeons, took up fly-fishing, photography, and wildlife caretaking, and volunteered at the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center.

James Mason was known to ride his bicycle from his home in Springs to his job in Bridgehampton at the Long Island Lighting Company yard, where he worked for more than four decades until 1996. The first-class electrical lineman and foreman continued his rides even after he moved to Hampton Bays.

Cycling wasn't his only hobby -- he sang with the Whalers Barbershop Chorus for several years in the early 1960s and loved sailing out of Three Mile Harbor into Gardiner's Bay and beyond on his boat, the Song of Joy.

The daughter of two "hard-working immigrant parents," Dorothy Rose Carew of Montauk and East Hampton "knew the value of hard work," her family said, and it was "hard work and determination" that helped her graduate as a registered nurse from Kings County Hospital School of Nursing.

James Mason of Hampton Bays, formerly of Springs, died on March 16 at home of complications resulting from cardiac amyloidosis. He was 84.

His wife, Carol D. Mason, and his three children, Janet C. Fanning of Hilton Head, S.C., Elizabeth R. McGuire of Johns Island, S.C., and Fiona M. McKinney of Albany, survive, as well as two stepchildren, Andrew LoMonaco and Christopher LoMonaco, both of Hampton Bays, seven grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and a sister, Jean Clappi Davis of California.

An obituary will appear in a future issue.

"Always thoughtful," Florence M. Kirch "never forgot to acknowledge an important date for family and friends. And with her warmth and easy smile, she made lifelong friends wherever she went, which made for a packed calendar," her family wrote.