Shelter Island Reporter obituaries: Murray, Puls, Yourdon
Corell Murray
Corell “Corky” Murray was born on Oct. 15, 1934 and passed away on Aug. 12, 2022.
She lived in Brooklyn; Roslyn; Connecticut; and South Carolina, but her heart belonged to Shelter Island from the time she began coming here with her family in the 1940s. Shelter Island is where she met her husband Bob and made lifelong friends, one of whom gave her the nickname Corky that would stay with her for life.
Corky and Bob bought a summer home on Silver Beach in 1969 after their family was complete, and they moved to Shelter Island year-round in 2001.
Corky had two careers: As a full-time mom and at Online magazine in Weston, Conn. She volunteered at Eastern Long Island Hospital and Mashomack, and served as a treasurer at Gardiner’s Bay Country Club. She also had a memorable stint writing a column in the Shelter Island Reporter about ferry rules.
Corky is predeceased by Bob and her parents Sylvia and Kurt Lauter. She is survived by her children Laura Dobbin (Eric), Robert Murray (Anne), Caroline Murray (Chris), sister Toni, grandchildren Jocelyn, Kurt, Becky, Tory, Jake and Grace, and many beloved other family and friends.
Corky will be laid to rest with her husband Bob at Calverton National Cemetery. Those wishing to make donations in Corky’s name are encouraged to donate to alz.org or Mashomack via preserve.nature.org.
Charles R. Puls
The family of Charles R. Puls would say that he had nine lives, overcoming many medical events over the years, including polio. These lives came to an end they reported, on Aug. 31, 2022 at the age of 93.
Charlie was remembered as a caring, loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Honoring his flag and country, he served in the Marine Corps.
He was a lifeguard at Lido Beach, a volunteer firefighter at Eatons Neck, and on the tournament team at Merrick Fire Department. He kept active, walking from Penn Station to his job at NY Tel, where he worked his way up from climbing poles to the post of sales and marketing manager.
He was President of the Property Owners, Eatons Neck Association, and Knollwood Beach Association, Commodore and one of the founders of Eatons Light Yacht Club, Fleet Captain at Northport Yacht Club, and at his final home on Shelter Island, Trustee of the Hay Beach Association, volunteer for the Shelter Island Historical Society and Preservation of Taylor’s Island Committee.
Inactivity was not part of his DNA, his family said, and his innovative ideas could be seen in his layout design of their house in Shoreham Village and the one on Shelter Island, for both of which he acted as general contractor. He enjoyed golf and sailing, but with limited free time, chose sailing.
Luckily, his enthusiasm for that wasn’t in competition with his love for his wife, Linda, since she too is an avid sailor. His love for the sea and boating was passed on and enjoyed by his children and grandchildren. He sailed right up until he was 82.
Charlie was predeceased by his sister Dorothy Desch, and grandchildren Gina Leigh Carr and Jennifer Sweeney. He is survived by Linda, his son Keith Puls, (Mary Ann), daughter Leigh Ann Stone, (Joe), step-children, Kevin O’Neill (Carolyn), Steven O’Neill (Tracey), Kelly Gordon (Peter), 12 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
His family said he left a hole in their hearts and they know he’ll have a sailboat with the compass leading him to God’s heavenly seas where fair winds and following seas await him.
A Memorial Service and a Celebration of Life Reception will be held at the Northport Yacht Club, Bluff Point Road, Northport, NY on Saturday, Oct. 8 from noon to 4 p.m. The services, including some words or songs by family members, military honors and a prayer, will take place between noon and 1 p.m. with the celebration of Charlie’s life following.
An RSVP to Linda Puls ([email protected]) would be appreciated if you intend to participate in the reception. Donations may be made in Charlie’s name to Tunnel to Towers Foundation, 2361 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10306, FAX: 718-987-3909, or Sail to Prevail, 60 Fort Adams Dr, Newport, RI 02840
Pat Yourdon
Pat Yourdon (nee Klein) passed away unexpectedly on the morning of Sept. 3, 2022 at the age of 77.
Born on Dec. 30, 1944 in Charleston, S.C. to Richard and Joann Klein (nee Breen), from a young age Pat was raised by her father and her stepmother Jeanne Klein (nee Picou) and spent most of her childhood living in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Pat was brought often to visit Jeanne’s native country of France, which sparked her love of language and international travel. She would mostly see her mother in the summers in Joann’s hometown of Scituate, Mass. Those summers caused Pat to love the ocean and beaches. She also loved getting to know and spend time with her Irish-American relatives, the Breen Family.
Pat was the third generation of her father’s family to live in Brooklyn and her father helped her to come to love the Brooklyn Dodgers, especially when he snuck her out of school early to go to Ebbet’s Field. Pat attended Brooklyn Friends School where she made lifelong friends and connections.
Richard, Jeanne and Joanne all helped her develop and refine her intelligence which she put to work at Bryn Mawr College, helped her earn a Fulbright Fellowship to study in France, and then earn a Master’s Degree in Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania.
After graduate school, Pat’s father was learning about computer programming and she also took an interest, beginning a life’s career in the computer world. Shortly into her career she met and worked with Edward Yourdon, and although they were married only briefly, the marriage lasted long enough for Pat to have her daughter Jennifer Yourdon (now Jennifer Coffey).
Pat continued her family’s traditions with her daughter while they lived in Brooklyn. She took Jennifer to baseball games, tolerating the Jennifer-induced forced family switch of allegiance to the Yankees (which horrified Pat’s father, who vowed to never root for the Yankees, and stoically cheered for the Mets).
Pat even brought Jennifer to all three home games of the 1978 World Series which featured the Yankees against the Dodgers. Pat took her daughter to France when she was 6 months old and Jennifer ended up going to France at least once a year, each year until the end of high school.
In the mid-1970s, Pat bought a house on Shelter Island and eventually bought one more before finally landing in her favorite home on Silver Beach in the mid-1980s. There she took her daughter fishing, clamming, to the beach and on boats and enjoyed times with friends new and old.
Pat continued her computer career at the United Nations where she loved working with people from all over the world. Her job took her all over the world, including Kenya, Bangladesh, Ethopia, Nepal, Brazil and Switzerland, which she enjoyed.
Pat continued to expose Jennifer to many cultures, traveling extensively internationally with her and then sending her to the United Nations International School when they moved to Manhattan in 1984.
She enjoyed playing many games including backgammon, solitaire, Scrabble and blackjack, among others, and got a real kick out of being able to play blackjack with Jennifer in France and Puerto Rico.
After almost 20 years at the UN, Pat retired in the house in Silver Beach where she enjoyed her view of Peconic Bay, raised oysters, volunteered at the Historical Society and would help a friend at her antiques shop. She translated her interest in art and silver into an active second career selling on Ebay.
As the years went on in retirement, Pat became less tolerant of the cold weather and began spending the winters in Florida. The winters spent there kept being extended by a month until she was really only spending a few months a year on Shelter Island.
One day she declared, “If the temperature is smaller than your age, it’s too cold!” That realization among others led Pat to sell her house on Shelter Island and move to Florida full time. She visited Jennifer and her family often in New York, and loved going back to Scituate and Shelter Island for visits.
She adored watching both of her grandsons play soccer, and it wasn’t long before soccer had overtaken baseball as her favorite sport. And coming in second was mini-golf which she loved to play with her grandsons.
She spent the last couple of years in the Cypress Cove Continuing Care Retirement Community in Ft. Myers, Fla. where she was very happy. She volunteered at the retail market, served on the Finance Committee, took occasional exercise classes, went on outings, saw concerts and movies, and ate meals with friends. She consistently commented about how friendly and positive all of the staff were there.
Pat is survived by her daughter Jennifer, her son-in-law James Coffey, her grandsons Liam and Owen Coffey, and her half-sister Lisa Lipshires.
