Obituaries

Peter J. Steckowski, a former Amagansett resident, died on Dec. 22 in Boomer, N.C. He was 60. A spring memorial will be announced, and an obituary will appear in a future issue.

Betty A. Vail of Miller Lane East in East Hampton died at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue on Tuesday. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

Patricia Skidmore Kyle, a Mad Men-era advertising, promotions, and merchandising executive at Ladies Home Journal, Time Inc., and Conde Nast, died of complications from pneumonia on Dec. 8 at Peconic Landing in Greenport. She was just 20 days short of her 90th birthday.

The internationally known textile designer, collector, and author died at his home at the LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton on Tuesday.

Catherine D. Bennett, a Bridgehampton native and resident of East Hampton Village for 65 years, died of complications of Covid-19 on Dec. 20 at the Hampton Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. She was 87.

Bruce H. Baldwin of East Hampton and Naples, Fla., who was a founding member of the Springs Fire Department, died of a heart attack at home in Naples on Dec. 11. He was 84 years old.

Gert Murphy, a resident of South Etna Avenue in Montauk, who in her 82 years was a nun, teacher, volunteer, artist, writer, and onetime "hell-raising urchin in her Morningside Heights neighborhood" in Manhattan, died on Dec. 16 at Sky View Rehabilitation and Health Care in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. The cause was Covid-19, though Ms. Murphy had had a debilitating stroke in August.

Mary Schellinger of Sag Harbor, a former French teacher at the Amagansett and Springs Schools, died on Dec. 14 of complications of Parkinson's disease. She was 72. 

Pamela Lee Black, a food service employee for the East Hampton School District for many years, died on Dec. 14 of respiratory failure as a complication of coronavirus infection at the Westhampton Care Center. She was 80 and had been ill with lung cancer.

Beulah Mae O'Neal, 82, a longtime resident of Bridgehampton who, with her husband, William Samuel O'Neal, reared seven children in that hamlet, died on Dec. 12 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital from complications of Covid-19.

Teresa Flanagan of Montauk, an accomplished artist, illustrator, and business owner who was known as Terry, died on Aug. 8 at home, surrounded by family. She was 92.

The Star has received word of the unexpected death of Karie Renee Gardiner, formerly of East Hampton Village, who was found at home in Fullerton, Calif., on Dec. 3. Ms. Gardiner, who had been in declining health, was 62.