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Obituary

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Frank Avino

Frank C. Avino, a lifelong resident of Huntington, passed away on Aug. 19. He is survived by friend Thomas Dunn and cousins Barbara Albanos, Joe Feleppa, Richie Feleppa, Linda Puskas, Lisa Wagner and Jodi Fagan.

After graduating from Walt Whitman High School in the Class of 1961, Frank worked for the A&S Department Store and then Macy’s until his retirement. His leisure years were spent enjoying his home on Prime Avenue, where he had many friends.

A wake was held at Nolan Funeral Home in Northport on Sunday, Aug. 27, followed by a religious service there Monday, Aug. 28, and burial at St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Huntington.

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Judith McCormick

Judith “Judy” Ann McCormick, of Smithtown, died on Aug. 14 at 82 years of age. 

She is the beloved wife of William; loving mother of Paul McCormick, William McCormick Jr. and Samantha Payne; loving mother-in-law of Elizabeth McCormick and Nathan Payne; the cherished grandmother of Jack McCormick and Magnolia Payne; and the dear sister of Robert Rovinsky, John Rovinsky and Melissa Hall. She was also loved by many other family and friends. 

In lieu of flowers, donations to the World Wildlife Fund (www.worldwildlife.org) in Judy’s honor would be appreciated.

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Vincent Droscoski
Prepared By the Droscoski family

Vincent A. Droscoski Jr., 85, of Port Jefferson, passed away on Friday, July 28.

Vincent was a retired fire inspector at Brookhaven National Laboratory, ex-chief of the Terryville Fire Department and ex-captain of Port Jefferson Fire Department, with over 65 years of service.

Vincent was an avid fan of the New York Giants, the New York Rangers and the New York Mets. He so loved Polish music and made the best coleslaw one ever tasted.

He is the beloved husband of Linda (née Fletcher); loving father of Jeffrey (Leanne) and Gary (Beth); cherished grandfather of Stephanie, Lauren, Kaitlyn and Jenny; and devoted brother of Margaret Valient, Barbara Cassidy, Richard (Janet), Albert, and the late Carolyn and Thomas.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, Sept. 8, from 6- to 9 p.m. at the Bryant Funeral Home, 411 Old Town Road, East Setauket. Firematic Service to be held at 8:00 p.m. A memorial Mass will be on Saturday, Sept. 9, at Infant Jesus R.C. Church at St. Charles Hospital at 10:45 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Good Shepherd Hospice, www.chsli.org/good-shepherd-hospice/ways-give; or Hope House Ministries, www.hhm.org/donate-online.

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Pete and Mary Hoban. Photo courtesy Bill Hoban

Dr. Pierce “Pete” Francis Hoban (1930‒2023), educator, age 93. Resided in Vicar’s Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Blessed with a wonderful quality of life to his last day on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, when the doctors at Mayo Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, said “his heart just gave out.”   

Pete was truly a self-made man. He was born into a loving but humble family in New York City during the Depression on June 19, 1930. He served honorably after high school in the U.S. Coast Guard during the Korean War. He always said, if not for the benefits he received for his military service as part of the GI Bill, he never would have earned his undergraduate degree from Fordham University, his master’s degree from New York University or his doctorate in education from Columbia University.

Working as a high school math teacher while earning his doctorate, his talents and people skills were quickly recognized as he moved up the ranks of education, becoming a superintendent of schools at the age of 30. 

He spent the next 35 years serving as a superintendent of schools in increasingly larger and more complex school systems, including the Three Village School District on Long Island and the Skokie School District in the suburbs of Chicago. He was driven in his career by his deep passion for helping others succeed by achieving their educational goals. In this regard, he was lucky enough to have touched and impacted in a positive way too many students, teachers and other support staff to count. 

Although Pete loved helping others, by far the most important thing in his life was his family. He married Mary Connolly on June 19, 1956, in Corona, New York. They raised four boys, Tim, Mike, Pete and Bill. To no surprise, the values he instilled in his sons allowed them to achieve successful careers after earning college and postgraduate degrees. 

During their 64-year marriage, their home was always a bee hive of activity between family, friends and sporting events. During those early years raising his family, Pete loved traveling on family vacations in their Winnebago recreational vehicle. Whether traveling to national parks across the country, going on skiing or golfing vacations, he always viewed these trips as some of the best times of his life.

After retiring in 1994, Pete and Mary started a new chapter in their lives, moving from the Chicago area to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. An avid golfer and member of the Sawgrass Country Club, he spent decades trying to perfect his golf swing. Always with his self-deprecating humor, he would quip he did a much better job at helping others as superintendent of schools than he ever did trying to perfect his golf swing. 

Thankfully, Pete loved retirement and all the friends they made along the way. He and Mary kept active and traveled extensively to Europe and throughout the United States. They moved to Vicar’s Landing in 2014 and were regulars at dinner theaters and other activities. He was not shy about showing off his acting skills in plays and even winning a bocce ball tournament. 

The COVID-19 pandemic was hard on everyone, including Pete. In June 2020, he lost the love of his life Mary to cancer. Her loss was particularly hard as he was reduced to visiting her at Vicar’s Skilled Nursing Facility by looking in her window from outside the building and calling her on the phone due to strict COVID rules. Despite losing Mary, he never lost his zest for life. Instead, he adopted the motto “Keep active and enjoy life.” To that end, after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, he traveled with his sons on numerous adventures including trips to South Korea to visit his grandson serving in the U.S. Army (he even peeked into North Korea along the DMZ), boat rides in Los Angeles, Christmas in Lake Tahoe (with too much snow), New York City sightseeing trips, driving five days along the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to Seattle, a train ride from Chicago to San Francisco through the Rocky Mountains and even a hot air balloon ride. 

In the last two months of his life, he especially enjoyed his 93rd birthday bash on Long Island with 70+ relatives and friends attending as well as a seven-day Caribbean cruise. Lastly, he was scheduled to go with his sons on a trip to Switzerland in September but unfortunately God had other plans for him.

A life well lived. Pete is survived by his sons, Tim, Mike, Pete and Bill and six grandchildren.  

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 1, at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. A military honor guard ceremony will take place immediately following the funeral service outside the Columbarium followed by interment. A reception will be held at 1 p.m. in the Parlor Room at Vicar’s Landing. All are welcome at the reception.

In lieu of flowers please consider giving to the Andrew Connolly SJ Scholarship Fund, which provides educational scholarships to needy students at Xavier High School in Truk, Micronesia (located in the South Pacific by Guam, where Mary’s brother served for 40+ years as a Jesuit priest). Donations can be made via their website: www.sjnen.org/donate-now-xavier-high-school-chuuk.

Indicate in the comments section of the website that your donation is for the Andrew Connolly Scholarship Fund. 

Donations can also be made by mail by sending a check to: USA East Province of the Society of Jesuits, 39 East 83rd St., New York, NY 10028 (make check out to: “USA East Province” and in the memo section indicate for “Andrew Connolly Scholarship Fund at Xavier HS in Micronesia”).

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Donald Harrington

Prepared by Katie Harrington

Don was born to Paul and Louise Harrington in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1941. He was the oldest of four children including Larry, Mary-Louise and Tom. They moved to Tucson, Arizona, when Don was 7 years old. He died May 30 at 82.

He loved the desert and maintained a lifelong connection to Sabino Canyon in Arizona. Don was a yo-yo champion as a teenager and in his early 20s spent much of his time skydiving. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 1962.

Don attended Marquette Medical School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He met his wife, Mary, during medical school. They moved to Minneapolis in 1967 for a radiology residency at the University of Minneapolis VA Health Care System Hospital. Their daughter, Anne, was born there in 1970.

The family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where Don had a faculty position performing interventionist procedures at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Their daughter, Katie, was born in 1973. In 1979, the family moved to Newton, Massachusetts, where Don became an associate professor and began a faculty position at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Don and Mary moved to Old Field in 1991. Don became the chairman of radiology as well as a professor at Stony Brook University Hospital. He worked as a science adviser for the National Institutes of Health and received a master’s degree in informatics from Columbia University.

Don was eager for travel and adventure. He and Mary lived in Manhattan as well as Long Island, enjoying friendship and culture. They traveled to Italy, Spain, Portugal, Patagonia and Alaska and continually returned to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 

Don was diagnosed with multiple systems atrophy, a form of Parkinson’s. He was able to live at home as the disease progressed because of the exquisite care of Mary and his live-in aide, Stanley. 

Don was uniquely loving, tender and smart. With limited mobility, he was less physically able but no less powerful. He maintained a keen awareness of life until he died.

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Catherine 'Cat' Green

Prepared by Kara Hahn’s office

Catherine “Cate” Green, of Sayville, passed away on July 3. She was 71.

A legislative aide to Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), Green was a longtime Suffolk County employee. In addition to serving in the legislator’s office in 2018 and returning to the position earlier this year, she previously served as a senior manager of public relations in the county’s Department of Economic Development and Planning. 

“Catherine was an exceptional friend to me, whose love, loyalty, bravery and compassion knew no bounds,” Hahn said. “She dedicated herself wholeheartedly to serving others, displaying unwavering commitment in all she pursued despite numerous life and health traumas.”

Before her tenure with the county, Green was the director of communications/public affairs for Long Island MacArthur Airport, where she helped to establish the Hometown Hero welcome program at the airport. She also worked with the Town of Islip and in the private sector for Newsday and as a vice president of branding and strategic marketing for JPMorgan Chase. 

A scholar, she resided in Port Jefferson as she earned two master’s degrees from Stony Brook University in English and in English literature and studied Irish literature for a year at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. A progressive advocate, she was active in the peace, anti-nuke and women’s rights movements — proud to have been arrested for peacefully protesting the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant. In the early 1980s, Green joined the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom and helped organize peace vigils on the Setauket Village Green.

Green was an active member of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Stony Brook for nearly 30 years and a longtime member of UUFSB’s Social Action Committee. She was awarded UUFSB’s Standing on the Side of Love award for her volunteer work of more than 50 years, from Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign to her involvement in local politics helping to get people of color elected, from her leadership in the anti-nuclear movement to teaching a major corporation how to hire and support a more diverse workforce.

Longtime friend Peggy Fort, of Stony Brook, said: “Catherine and I helped organize the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Walk-A-Thon, and we were involved in many rallies, sessions on disarmament at the United Nations and Washington marches. Catherine was instrumental in helping to garner the support of then Brookhaven Town Supervisor Henrietta Acampora for the walk-a-thon and our petition.” 

A compassionate soul, Green worked at one of the first crisis intervention hotlines on Long Island, Middle Earth, and for Suffolk County’s Department of Social Services. Green was also integral in countless local political campaigns, including Hahn’s campaigns for county legislator and Congress and Vivian Viloria-Fisher’s run for Suffolk County clerk. In Islip, she assisted George and Phil Nolan, Bill Lindsay Jr. and current Town Councilman Jorge Guadron, among many others. She also helped run successful phone banks for former President Barack Obama on Long Island.

A master wordsmith and outstanding writer, she understood the importance of an individual’s personal “voice” as well as the sound, simplicity and power of words. 

An environmentalist, Green so cared about the earth that she often was viscerally angry for human contributions to pollution and climate change and always cherished the buzz of a bee, the song of a bird, the beauty of the bay, the flutter of a butterfly, the scent of a flower and the sound of wind rustling the leaves of a majestic tree. 

She was a lover of music and a performer with the voice of an angel. Catherine, aka Cate, of Cate & Co., performed regularly as lead singer with her extraordinarily talented bandmates and recently hit the studio to record an album with them.

“She found pure joy performing and wanted to share that joy with everyone she could,” Hahn added.

Born on Dec. 27, 1951, at Southside Hospital, Green, the middle child of nine children, was raised in Amityville. She met her husband, John, at a party in Huntington thrown by his brother, who was dating her sister at the time. They married in 1982, and Catherine and John welcomed their daughter Liz into the world in 1988. The family moved to Sayville in 2001. In addition to her husband and daughter, she leaves behind her siblings Marian, Virginia, Michael, Donna, Jody and Margaret-Mary, as well as several nieces, nephews and countless friends. Green was predeceased by her mother and father, Mary and Albert Synan, and brothers Kenneth and John Synan.

“Her remarkable presence touched the lives of countless individuals, as she selflessly extended her generosity, authenticity and kindness to all who had the high honor of knowing her,” Hahn said. “Catherine’s indomitable spirit, grit, perseverance and resilience in the face of adversity were an inspiration to us all. She was a force to be reckoned with and gracefully lived by her progressive and Irish Catholic values. In commemorating Catherine’s life, let us remember the indelible mark she left on our hearts and strive to emulate her unwavering dedication to the betterment of others. Her legacy will forever shine brightly in our memories, reminding us of the profound impact a person can have in the service of others”

Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Raynor & D’Andrea Funeral Homes in West Sayville. A visitation on Sunday, July 9, and chapel service on Monday, July 10, were held at the funeral home. Cremation was private.  Her family and friends plan to plant a tree in her memory overlooking the Great South Bay at Sayville Marina Park.

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David Bigelow Melville

Submitted by Carswell Berlin

David Bigelow Melville, 97, died at his home in Fort Pierce, Florida on June 22, attended by friends. The cause of death was not given.

Mr. Melville was the son of the late Ward and Dorothy Melville of New York City and Setauket, New York.  He was born December 18, 1925 in Brooklyn and was predeceased by his three older siblings: Margaret Blackwell, Ruth Berlin and Frank Melville.

Mr. Melville grew up in Setauket and attended Philips Exeter Academy and was graduated from the Pomfret School in Pomfret Connecticut, class of 1944. He went directly to the New York State Maritime Academy at Fort Schuyler (now part of the State University of New York), served on tankers in the North Atlantic and subsequently served in the US Navy.

In 1951, he was working in California for Thom McAn, a division of Melville Shoe Corporation, a company founded by his grandfather, Frank Melville, Jr., when he met and married Mary E. Bale, a recent graduate of Scripps College. They were divorced in 1966. Mr. Melville subsequently married the late Betty Jane Dean (nee Goss) of Weston Mass., and lived in Weston for much of his marriage. The couple was divorced in the early 1980s.

It was during this time that Mr. Melville established the David B. Melville Foundation and founded Toah Nipi, a spiritual retreat and ministry of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Rindge, New Hampshire. He also became an important donor to the Stony Brook School in Stony Brook, NY., a Christian preparatory school, and served on its Board of Trustees from 1981-1999.

Mr. Melville began to accumulate property on Rum Cay in the Bahamas in the late 1970s and in 1981, opened the Rum Cay Dive Club, a scuba diving club at Monroe Beach on Rum Cay which he ran for eight years. Finding the island’s limited transportation options impeded the growth of business, he eventually sold the resort and moved back to Weston and finally, in 2009, to Fort Pierce, Florida. During his years on Rum Cay, he became a significant supporter of Scripture Union, a global, evangelical organization originally founded to introduce children to the bible, an association that continued for the rest of his life.

In Fort Pierce, Mr. Melville co-founded Ocean Grown, a firm making organic, mineral-rich fertilizer for agricultural, animal feed, landscaping, hydroponic and the home & garden industries. During this time, Mr. Melville oriented his philanthropy to the New Hope Vocational Technical Institute, a division of Bringing Hope to the Family (BHTF), serving orphans and vulnerable children in Butiiti, Uganda, and was an active and generous member of the Northside Worship Center in Fort Pierce where a memorial service was held for him on July 4th.

David was an avid equestrian and tennis player most of his life. He loved the sea and the many places he visited during his time in the Merchant Marines and Navy. He was a historian and a student of government. He maintained a large library of books on these subjects.

He is survived by his niece and nephews: Stephen, Lanning, Gregory and Cameron Melville and Carswell and Meg Berlin.

A funeral and burial service will be held for David at the Caroline Episcopal Church, 1 Dyke Road, Setauket, on Tuesday, July 18 at 11 a.m. Donations in David’s memory may be made to the Caroline Church.

 

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Above, Theresa Whelan. Photo courtesy Chambers of the Honorable Thomas F. Whelan

Theresa Whelan, of Wading River, a longtime Suffolk County judge who served for more than 10 years in family court and most recently as the county’s Surrogate’s Court judge, died Monday, Dec. 26, after a courageous battle with cancer. She was 60.

Theresa Whelan always knew she wanted to be in public service. As a young attorney fresh out of Albany Law School, she began her legal career in 1988 as a Suffolk County assistant county attorney. She entered the court system in 1990 as a senior law clerk to Supreme Court Judge Eli Wagner, in Nassau County. She went on to work as a principal law clerk in Suffolk County for Supreme Court Judge Mary M. Werner and, later, Supreme Court Judge William B. Rebolini. During her 17 years in the supreme court, she worked in nearly every part, including civil litigation, guardianship, tax certiorari and condemnation cases, as well as matrimonial matters.

She eventually took the bench herself in 2008 after she was elected to serve as a judge in Suffolk County Family Court. There, she heard primarily child abuse and neglect cases and presided over Family Treatment Court, where she worked to safely reunite families. Whelan became Suffolk County’s Surrogate in 2019, presiding over proceedings involving wills, trusts and estates as well as guardianship matters. She retired in the summer of 2022, marking 32 years within the New York State court system.

Known for her commitment to improving court practices to better serve the needs of the public, Whelan mobilized several initiatives that helped families and children and that expanded access to justice for all court users. She was appointed Supervising Judge of the Suffolk County Family Court in 2016, and one of the many reforms she spearheaded was providing remote access to temporary orders of protection, allowing individuals to petition the court from a hospital, a police precinct or a shelter. She was a catalyst of the FOCUS (Family Overcoming Crisis through Unified Services) initiative, a program that expedites access to services that address the trauma and developmental needs of children and parents in the court system. 

She also served as lead judge of the Suffolk County Child Welfare Court Improvement Project, part of a statewide initiative to address court practices in cases where the court has removed children from their parents’ care. In 2016, Chief Administrative Judge Larry Marks appointed her to the Family Court Advisory and Rules Committee. In 2018, former New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Janet DiFiore appointed her to the New York State Commission on Parental Representation, which is tasked with holding public hearings and reporting on the status and quality of lawyers representing parents in child welfare cases. Since 2016, Theresa Whelan had been the chair of Suffolk County’s Attorneys for Children Advisory Committee, which is responsible for considering the qualifications of new applicants to the Attorneys for Children panel as well as reviewing the recertification applications for existing lawyers. 

An active member of the Suffolk County Bar Association, Whelan was co-chair of the Family Court Committee from 2013 to 2016 and lectured for the association’s law academy and other legal organizations. As a member of the Attorney for Child Task Force, she and the other members received the Suffolk County Bar Association’s President’s Award in 2016 for their work. She was also a member and past president of the Suffolk County Women’s Bar Association.

In March of 2022, in recognition of her leadership and commitment to improving the lives of children and families, Whelan was honored at a Women’s History Month celebration, “Women Providing Healing, Promoting Hope,” presented by Suffolk County District Administrative Judge Andrew A. Crecca and the Suffolk County Women in the Courts Committee. In June, Whelan was awarded the Marilyn R. Menge Award at the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York 2022 Convention.

Prior to beginning her legal career, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Master of Science degree in Policy Analysis and Public Management from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Her devotion to her family was boundless. She and her husband, Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Thomas F. Whelan, recently celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary. Together they raised two children, Joseph and Erin. Whelan was a proud grandmother to Erin’s one-year-old daughter, Andrea.

In her spare time, Whelan enjoyed the outdoors. She could often be found hiking, kayaking or spending time at the beach. She ran in several half marathons in recent years.

She continued her dedication to the public good even after her cancer diagnosis, volunteering to participate in clinical trials, despite the risks, in hopes of helping find a cure. Her family, friends and former colleagues remember her as someone who braved challenges with grace and compassion. She will be dearly missed by all who knew her. 

Theresa Whelan is survived by her husband, Justice Thomas F. Whelan; son, Joseph Whelan; daughter, Erin, her husband, Alex Meyers, and their daughter, Andrea; mother, Joan Bryant, and her husband John Bauer; brothers, Jack Bryant and Christopher Bryant; sisters, Vaughn Bogucki and Victoria Yule; together with many nieces and nephews.

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Lynn Reilly

Lynn H. Reilly, of Smithtown, passed away in September 2022 at the age of 70. 

Lynn was a retired schoolteacher, beloved wife and dedicated mother.

Lynn’s life revolved around her family, students and many friends. Her cozy, creative, book-lined classrooms inspired the zest for learning in hundreds of students over the decades.

A life-long “Islander”, she grew up in Kings Park, lived in Smithtown with her family and taught for over 40 years in the Long Island Public School system. Education was her passion.

Graduating in the top five of her class in King Park High School, Lynn was the first in her family to attend college and worked full time to pay her own way.

Lynn’s master’s thesis on “Education of the Gifted and Talented” was the springboard for directing the nascent West Islip Gifted and Talented Program.

Canoe journeys up the Nissequogue River, museum trips, Math Olympiads and structured classroom projects emphasizing imagination and task completion, shaped the desire to succeed for scores of future successful business people, professionals, a county district attorney and a Hollywood actor or two. Lynn instilled the strong educational values of preparation in her only child and supported her path to Harvard University and Harvard Business School.

Lynn was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 10. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Tackling Type 1 Diabetes for 60 years, Lynn was the exemplar of perseverance, optimism and sheer “Viking Will.”

Lynn is survived by her husband and best friend for half a century, Patrick, her daughter Leif-Ann Tuohey, son-in-law Vince Tuohey and grandchildren Seamus and Clementine.

Lynn will forever live on in their hearts and memories. A Celebration of Life was held at the local American Legion in Kings Park on Nov.12. 

— Photo from Reilly’s family

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Harry T. Dawkins

Harry T. Dawkins

Harry Thomas Dawkins, of Setauket, passed away peacefully at the age of 77 on Nov. 9.

Born on July 17, 1945, he was the son of Mary and Bertram Dawkins. Harry is survived by his wife, Kathleen Dawkins; his son Jonathan Dawkins; his stepchildren Daphne Fitzpatrick and their partner Johanna Phelps and Rachel Weissmann and her husband John Owen; and step-grandchildren Elias Owen, Oona Owen, Fitz Phelps and August Phelps.

He is also survived by his twin sister Margaret, sister Lillian, and brother Bertram (also known as Bud). He was the beloved uncle to Bonnie Dawkins, Peter Dawkins and Nancy Dawkins-Pisani.

Harry was a veteran of the Vietnam War serving in the Navy’s Special Services Group with the Patrol Boat Rivers from 1963 to 1967. He received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. After his Honorable Discharge, he returned home to Long Island and continued his career on the water ever since.

A man of many talents and known for his ability to make friends with anybody, he is well known for his time with the Captree Boat Basin as the captain of the Yankee III and the Port Jefferson Ferry and Marina. Whether it was working the docks or spending time with his many close friends, it would not be taking liberties to say, “Harry Dawkins was the mayor of Port Jeff.” 

Visitation will be held at Bryant Funeral Home, 411 Old Town Road, East Setauket  on Nov. 20 from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. with a service on Nov. 21 at 10:30 a.m. followed by internment at Calverton National Cemetery 

— Photo from Dawkins’ family

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