Featured Story

Shelter Island obituaries: Pufahl, Sutton, Young

Florence Marie Pufahl
Florence Marie Pufahl

Florence Marie Pufahl
Florence Marie Pufahl of Huntington and Shelter Island, formerly of Locust Valley, died peacefully October 23, 2015 at the Mary Ann Tully Hospice Care Inn. She was 93.

Born January 17, 1922 in Queens Village, the second of Anna and James Green’s four daughters, Florence is remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother to her extensive family. She was a friend and confidante to countless people she touched in her storied life, especially her late husband, Joseph, an entrepreneur, inventor and founder of several businesses during the time they raised their three sons and a daughter.

Florence and Joe had been childhood friends when romance bloomed in their teen years. Their fathers went to boot camp together before shipping overseas during World War I, and the family speculates that 2-year-old Joe was in the church when Florence was baptized. A photograph of Joe dating back to when Florence was 16 has written on the back, “This could be the start of something good.”

They married in 1943 as the country was entering World War II. Joe was sidelined from service due to an injury sustained at birth and they started their family. Three sons, John, Joe and Rob, came first, followed by their daughter Kathy.

In 1969, the Pufahls moved to Locust Valley where Flo met new friends and became active in the community. An accomplished horticulturalist, she was president of the Locust Valley Garden Club for several years and was recognized with a meritorious service award from the Federated Garden Clubs of America. Her and Joe’s love of flowering plants was passed on to their daughter Kathy, the founder of Beds and Borders nursery and a nationally recognized authority, credited with advancing the art of container gardening.

Florence’s horticulture skills were in evidence in Locust Valley as well as at their beloved Island summer home. The house on Coecles Harbor was the scene of countless dinners, childhood sleepovers, boat expeditions and waterski runs that created a lifetime of memories for their extended family and friends.

An accomplished waterskier who famously completed her aggressive slaloming runs without ever getting her hair wet, Flo made her final run around the harbor in August 2011, just three months before her 90th birthday. Equally accomplished on the slopes, she skied some of the great mountains of Vermont, Colorado and Utah with her family.

Florence was predeceased by her husband Joe in 2011 and her daughter Kathy in 2003. She is survived by her three sons, John (Cheryl) of Lloyd Harbor, Joseph (Sandra) of Cutchogue and Robert (Helen) of Huntington Bay; her grandchildren, Christopher Pufahl, Lauren Kinney (Devin), Jessica Jones (Don), Kristen Schreck (Brad), Daniel Pufahl (Lauren), Kevin Cande (Jayne), Tyler Cande, Torie Cande, Kyle Lehman and Colleen Lehman; and five great-grandchildren.

Following a funeral Mass at St. Patrick R.C. Church in Huntington, she was buried alongside her husband and daughter at Our Lady of the Isle Cemetery.

Donations in her memory may be made to the Carol Pufahl Literacy Foundation, 3 Harmony Lane, East Setauket, NY 11733; the Kathryn Pufahl Cande Pediatric IBD Research Fund, P.O. Box 1656, 5 East 98th Street, New York NY 10029; or Hospice Care Network, 99 Sunnyside Blvd., Woodbury, NY 11797.

Caroline Craig Sutton
Caroline Craig Sutton, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Shelter Island, died on October 9, 2015 at the age of 94 at the Jefferson’s Ferry Retirement Community in Setauket.

Caroline grew up in Sewickley, Pennsylvania and then married and settled in Pittsburgh in 1946. In 2010, she moved to Long Island to be near her two daughters and son-in-law — Judith Sutton of New York City and Ann Sutton and Martin Freundlich of Setauket. Caroline was predeceased by her husband of 54 years, Roger Sutton, a founding member of the Nuclear Physics Program at Carnegie Tech (now CMU), who died in 2000.

A woman of many talents, she was a self-taught and skilled carpenter. She renovated and helped build numerous houses, both for her family in Pittsburgh and Cape Cod and as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. Caroline became a master gardener and raised plants and prize-winning vegetables in her yard in Pittsburgh and on her farm in western Pennsylvania. An amateur archeologist, she participated in numerous digs in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Since 1992, Caroline had spent most of every summer at the family home in Silver Beach. She volunteered at Mashomack Preserve and served as a greeter for the Shelter Island Historical Society at Havens House.

Not content to simply wait at Havens House until visitors arrived, Caroline turned her skills to helping maintain the historic house. She caned and painted the wicker porch chairs. At the age of 86, she borrowed an extension ladder and painted the trim on the upper windows. When the herb garden fence started to rot, she cut new pickets from wood she collected at the dump to replace the damaged ones.

When her family eventually forbade her to use her radial arm saw for major renovations when she was alone, she turned to her jigsaw and made wooden folk art ferry boats that she sold in local shops and at Havens House. In her spare time, Caroline enjoyed swimming, biking and kayaking until her 90s. During her summers on the Island, she attended the Presbyterian Church.

Caroline’s humor, creativity, kindness and generosity will be greatly missed. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Nature Conservancy at Mashomack, P.O Box 850, Shelter Island, NY 11964 or the Shelter Island Historical Society, P.O. Box 847, Shelter Island, NY 11964.

Joan Viola Young
Joan Viola Young

Joan Viola Young
Joan Viola Young, age 84, loving wife, mother and grandmother, died Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at her residence in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.

Born in the Bronx, she was a daughter of the late Joseph and Marion Wallace. Mrs. Young attended St. Michael’s Catholic Church.

Survivors include her husband of 64 years, Thomas T. Young of Murrells Inlet; sons, Thomas J. Young (Sue Klenawicus) of Shelter Island and William F. Young of Cameron, North Carolina; daughters, Missy Melcer (Paul) of Sunrise, Florida and Trichia Avona of Garden City, South Carolina; grandchildren, Tommy, Chris, Bonnie, Nicky, Jenny, Paulie, Katie and Joey; eight great-grandchildren; and a brother, George Wallace of Texas.

Services will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to: Regency Hospice, 11943 Grandhaven Drive, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina 29576.

An online guestbook is available at goldfinchfuneralhome.com/obituaries.