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Shelter Island Reporter obituaries: Bloom, Hoye, McClune

Nanette Elizabeth Bloom

Nanette Elizabeth Bloom passed away suddenly on Dec 1, 2020, at Stony Brook Medical Center. She is survived by her lifetime devoted partner, Peter Messina, her brother, Arthur P. Bloom (Barbara) and their children, and cousins, nieces and nephews.

Burial services will be private.

Miles Coleman Hoye

Miles Coleman Hoye, 95, passed away peacefully Monday, Oct. 26, at his home on Hoye Hill.

Miles was born on Oct. 12, 1925 in Hewlett, N.Y. to the late Florence Estelle and Vesper Lee Hoye.

He joined the Army Air Force in 1944 and was trained as a radio and radar mechanic, serving with the 13th Army Air Force in the Philippines for 10 months. With the rank of sergeant, Miles was honorably discharged in May 1946.

After his discharge, he attended Connecticut Central University and Dowling College where he received his teaching and industrial arts degrees. Miles worked as an industrial arts teacher in Shelter Island; Bridgehampton; Deep River, Conn.; and Roosevelt High School in Hempstead.

Miles and his wife Betty arrived here in the early 1950s. They purchased land in 1955, which later became known as Hoye Hill. They cleared the land and built a house as time, money and health permitted. Over the years, Miles had several back surgeries, Lyme disease, shingles, broken bones and knee and hip replacements. However, he went to physical therapy following the surgeries and kept on going.

Miles was an excellent carpenter and mason. The house foundation, fireplace and stoops were all constructed with stones the family collected from the Ram Island Causeway. The fireplace mantle beam was salvaged from a driftwood log. 

Miles worked for the North Ferry as a deck hand and captain. He also worked as a boat carpenter for the Snyder brothers and then the Needhams at Coecles Harbor Marina. He later went out on his own as a carpenter, doing repair jobs and renovations. To this day, the people that Miles worked for talk about how he made their home a special place.

An excellent wood carver, in his younger years he made lamps with duck carvings on the base, particularly wood ducks and mallards and also duck-head coat racks. In his later years, he made cherrywood cutting boards in the shape of apples, which will be cherished for generations. He also carved sign boards.

A variety of animals were always a big part of Miles’ and Betty’s life. They raised gordon setters and mixed-breed dogs. Bo Bo, Shamus, Jody and Mandy were but a few of their pets. They also had cats and chickens. Their chickens,his family said, laid the best eggs.

Miles and Betty also had a big garden, an orchard, and raspberry and blueberry bushes.

In addition, Miles was an excellent cook. His biscuits, yeast-raised dinner rolls and French onion soup were all to die for, his family remembered. He loved to can his fruit and garden produce. He really enjoyed passing the fruits of his labors out to his friends during his errands or at his home.

If Miles had one passion, it was tending to his blueberry patches while riding around his property on his tractor. He fenced the blueberries in, covered the patches with bird netting, weeded, watered and fertilized them. Once the blueberries ripened he would get on the phone and call “his girls” to pick.

Miles loved to socialize. He had “his girls” at the Post Office, Pharmacy, bank and farm stand. Many of his friends kept up correspondence with Christmas cards, birthday cards, letters and on occasion, with a sweet baked good, which he loved. He was very generous and well-liked by many.

He was opposed to nuclear power and protested with Betty during the anti-Shoreham movement. Betty wrote the letters and together they went to the speeches and rallies. They were on a first-name basis with all the lawyers, politicians and reporters involved at that time. Twenty years after Shoreham closed, Miles would get calls from those friends just checking in on him. Betty and Miles loved to sail their sunfish off Wades Beach with a sail that had “NO NUKES” stenciled on the sail.

Miles is survived by his sister, Darleen Elizabeth; son Colin “Colly” Clark Hoye and his daughter Bonnie Jean; daughter Rebecca “Becky” Gene Smith and her sons, Ben and Derrick; daughter Mary Robin Meyers and husband Dr. Peter K. Meyers and their children, Beth Anne Tomlin, Kevin Patrick Meyers, Christopher John Meyers and Erin Caitlin Meyers. He is survived by six great-grandchildren – Charlie, Matthew, David, Peter, Caroline and Eleanor.

Miles is preceded in death by his wife, Betty Jeanne, and oldest son, John Vesper Hoye and brother, Donald Hoye.

If desired, memorials may be made to the Shelter Island Ambulance Foundation, PO Box 547, SI, NY  11964; Southold Animal Shelter, 269 Peconic Lane, Peconic, NY 11958; SI Senior Citizen Foundation, PO Box 970, Shelter Island, NY 11964.

James Z. McClune

James Z. McClune passed away on Nov. 16, 2020.

He was born in Johnstown, Penn. to Onerine and James McClune; the family moved to Ann Arbor, Mich. in 1944.

Mr. McClune graduated from the University of Michigan in 1953, where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta. In a 34- year career with AT&T, he held 38 different jobs: engineer, speech writer, newspaper editor, urban affairs manager and computer salesman. He was the New England Vice President for AT&T-American Bell during the Bell System breakup.

Mr. McClune was active in civil rights for over 30 years from the 1960s through the 1990s and was a member of Freedom House in Roxbury, Mass., retiring as vice chairman of the board in 1994. A life-long scout, he lectured to scout audiences on minority access.

An avid canoeist/sailor/skier, Mr. McClune canoed most of the major rivers in Michigan and New England. His last boat, Taliesen, was moored in Marblehead, Mass. He sailed 63 days in a short season.

He and his second wife, Pamela Greene-McClune, were married in Cape Town, South Africa on Sept. 9, 1999.

From a base in New York City and Shelter Island, they traveled the world: Patagonia, Machu Picchu, India, China, Egypt, Santorini and the Amalfi coast were among their favorite destinations.

Mr. McClune battled interstitial lung disease for almost three years and finally lost the war on Nov. 16 after two serious bouts with pneumonia.

He is survived by his wife, Pamela; first wife, Marilyn McClune of Dennis, Mass.; daughter, Margaret (Maggie) Titus and grandson, Thomas Titus, both of Essex Junction, Vt..

Memorial contributions may be made to the All Souls Unitarian Church, 1157 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10075.