Obituaries

Rae Ferren, whose distinctive impressionistic paintings captured the space and light of the East End, died on Sept. 6 at Southampton Hospital. She was 87 and had been ill for several years with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurological disorder.

Steven Charles Overby, a furniture buyer for Macy’s in New York City for many years who rose to become a senior vice president at the company, died on Sept. 6 at Stony Brook University Hospital, where he had been under care since a home accident at the end of August.

Cmdr. Stewart R. Graham, a helicopter pioneer who served in the Coast Guard for 26 years, died at home in Naples, Me., on Aug. 13.

Claire Dibble White, who worked as an operating room nurse alongside renowned surgeons, died at home in East Hampton last Thursday after a short battle with cancer. She was 80.

A longtime resident of East Hampton, she was brought up in the village, and, after graduating from East Hampton High School in 1954, earned a nursing degree in 1957 from the Flower Fifth Avenue School of Medicine nursing school in Manhattan.

A child of the Great Depression, Ms. White “learned the value of education and the meaning of hard work and resilience early in life,” her family said.

Frederick E. Sellers Jr., an East Hampton Town building inspector for 26 years, died in his sleep at home in Cape Coral, Fla., on Aug. 15. He was 78.

Irene A. King, who lived at Lazy Point in Amagansett, died on Aug. 17 at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue. She had been ill about four months and died from complications of sepsis, her family said.

James Norman Flynn, whose experiences as a merchant seaman during World War II included being a prisoner of war for a short time and being presumed dead when he was found on the coast of Yugoslavia after his ship hit a mine, died on June 18 at his brother’s home in Fort Myers, Fla.

Jane Graboski, a member of the Round Swamp Lester clan who was born at home on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton on Oct. 3, 1927, died on Aug. 31 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton, where she had been a resident for three years.

Jim Ryan, a resident of Northwest Woods in East Hampton, died on Aug. 28. He was 79.

A world-renowned pediatric physical therapist, John Chappel’s passion was in the neonatal intensive care unit, his wife, Dr. Christine Ganitsch, said.

Mary Bernadette Greene of Springs, who had worked at a variety of local jobs, from Sag Harbor to Montauk, died of esophageal cancer on Aug. 28 at East End Hospice’s Kanas Center in Quiogue.

Vonda Kay Miller, a member of the Amagansett Miller and Lester families, died at home on Oakview Highway in East Hampton of cancer on Aug. 29. She was 56.

William B. Fisher of East Hampton, a veteran of both the Army and the Navy and a longtime building contractor, died of cancer on Aug. 30 at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue. He was 78 years old.

Whether it was driving the Montauk ambulance, opening clams at a Montauk party, hauling ice and water for the triathlons, or helping a friend move, Craig S. Tuthill was willing to lend a hand.

Funeral services for Jane Graboski, an East Hampton resident who died yesterday at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton.

Services for Vonda Kay Miller, 56, who died at home in East Hampton on Monday, will be held tomorrow.

Francesco Bologna, a respected artist, frame shop owner, mentor to young painters, and gallerist who showed many local artists, died on Aug. 16 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. He was 89.

Gary Dwayne Reiswig, the longtime owner and restorer of two of East Hampton’s historical inns, died in his New York City apartment on Aug. 20 with his family at his side.

Craig Tuthill, a former chief and 63-year member of the Montauk Fire Department, died on Friday.

Donna Lynn Steckowski, who had been a volunteer emergency medical technician and most recently worked in a CVS pharmacy, died at St. Mary’s Hospital in Leonardtown, Md.

Word has been received of the death of Edward Havens Conklin, an 11th-generation Bonacker from one of East Hampton’s founding families, a longtime resident of the South Fork, and a veteran of the Korean War, on June 16 at his home in Southwest Harbor, Me.

Henry E. Dankowski Jr., a farmer, builder, and longtime resident of Wainscott and East Hampton, died on Aug. 10 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton.

M. Bernard Aidinoff died of heart failure at his Manhattan home on Aug. 8 at the age of 87.

Martha M. Buffo, who founded the outreach program at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Bridgehampton, died at her home in that hamlet on Friday, surrounded by family.

Mary Maxine Dowling Clark, a front desk clerk at the East Hampton Library in the 1970s and ’80s, died of cardiac arrest on Aug. 3 in Denver, where she had lived for the last eight years.

Winifred Goddard, who ran the Grandview Manor inn and restaurants in Montauk with her husband, Sidney Goddard, during the 1950s and ’60s, died in the Masonicare adult home in Wallingford, Conn., on July 1.

David Lee Brown, a well-known metal sculptor and Pratt Institute arts educator who lived in Springs before moving to Southampton some years ago, died on Friday after an illness.

Edna Yardley, a retired real estate broker and longtime East Hampton resident, died at home on Sunday.

Visiting hours for Frederick E. Sellers Jr., who died on Monday in Cape Coral, Fla., at the age of 78, will be held at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton tomorrow.

Francesco Bologna, a noted artist and longtime East Hampton resident, died on Tuesday at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in South­ampton.