Family of Lifelong Sag Harbor Resident Eileen Fordham Recounts Her Giving Nature, After Her Passing - 27 East

Family of Lifelong Sag Harbor Resident Eileen Fordham Recounts Her Giving Nature, After Her Passing

icon 1 Photo

author on Jan 10, 2017

There was always room for one more at the dinner table of Eileen Fordham’s Sag Harbor home.She was well-known in the community for her generosity, and that often was demonstrated with meals. Her son, Scott Fordham of Sag Harbor, noted that his mother would have him and his two sisters over for dinner every Sunday and always welcomed company.

“If you ever needed to bring 10 more people to dinner, she always had enough food for everyone,” he said. “I had friends who didn’t have the best family relationships—one of my friends lived there on weekends for years. My mom never questioned anything. The more people in the house, the happier she was.”

The 69-year-old died just before the new year, on December 30. Her daughter, Kiersten Simmons, also a Sag Harbor resident, said it was difficult going through New Year celebrations without her mother. She recounted a New Year’s Eve party at her mother’s home years ago, when she was only 12. Her mother saw her sulking alone at the party, so she took her outside and began banging two pots together on the porch.

“And I’m, like … What are you doing? And she said, ‘Let’s ring in the New Year!’” Ms. Simmons recounted. “She hands me the two pots, and she’s, like … ‘Are you going to let me have all the fun?’ Then she went back inside and got two more pots—and we screamed at the top of our lungs.

“We didn’t have a huge amount of money, but you would never know it,” she added. “She had a real knack for that—taking the simple little things and making them big.”

Ms. Fordham was born Eileen Archibald on March 14, 1947, at Southampton Hospital. She was raised in Sag Harbor and was a lifelong resident. When she was 4, she was stricken with polio and was in and out of hospitals until she was 18 years old. She eventually recovered but always had a limp from several surgeries over the years.

Despite her early struggles, her sister, Mary Labrozzi of Sag Harbor, said she always put others first and looked at life in a positive way.

“My sister was one of those types of people who never complained and acted like she never had an illness at all,” Ms. Labrozzi said. “She was very involved, but she never thought twice—her arms were always open.

“We’ve always kept our relationship very close,” she added. “She wasn’t just my sister—she was my best friend.”

Ms. Fordham married her hometown sweetheart, Robert E. Fordham, on September 28, 1968, at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sag Harbor. Ms. Fordham and her husband spent most of their adult lives involved with the church and the now-closed Stella Maris Catholic School, which was purchased a week before Ms. Fordham’s death, by the Sag Harbor School District, to relocate existing pre-kindergarten classrooms.

Ms. Fordham was a longtime member of the Sag Harbor School Board, became the president of the PTA and started the popular craft fair at the school. She helped orchestrate countless fundraisers, from carnivals to dinner dances. Friends say she and her husband were always willing to fix broken items, paint and help with emergency fixes at the small school, all without hesitation.

Ms. Fordham worked for a telephone company for two decades and over the years wore many professional hats. She catered small events, cleaned houses and worked as a personal assistant for a local family. She was known to be her own “meals on wheels” program, since she prepared and gave out food to friends, family, veterans and anyone who was sick, grieving or in need.

“I think that was one of her top hits on Amazon—to-go containers so she could box up food and send it out to everyone,” Ms. Simmons said.

Ms. Simmons recounted one of the rare times her mother’s delicious food was wasted. Her mother was known for many dishes, but particularly her signature chicken pot pie. When they were younger, Ms. Simmons and her sister, Heidi Wilson of Sag Harbor, were helping their mother with the four large pies. Ms. Simmons added garlic salt … a bit too much.

“I was shaking it in and thinking everything was all good,” Ms. Simmons said, recounting the garlic. “We prepared all the pies—got them all done and put them in the oven. We all start eating and giving each other ‘the look.’ Immediately, of course, she knows what the overwhelming, overpowering thing is. Heidi said she put garlic salt in, too! Four huge chicken pot pies wasted. We had to laugh about it for years—every time we made chicken pot pie, my mother would tell us to watch the garlic salt.”

Last summer, Ms. Fordham took in five collegiate baseball players attending the Sag Harbor Whalers Baseball Camp. She quickly learned their likes and dietary restrictions and packed them personalized lunches every day.

“It was Grand Central Station,” Ms. Simmons said of her mother’s abode, laughing. “Over the years there was very much an open door policy at my mom’s house. That’s just how my mother rolled.”

Ms. Fordham is survived by her three children and their spouses, Mr. Fordham and his wife, Tara, Ms. Wilson and her husband, J.R., and Ms. Simmons and her husband, Rich; as well as seven grandchildren, Kyle and Jake Fordham, Colby and Carolyn Wilson, and Riley, Lilah and Tessa Simmons. She is also survived by five siblings, Thomas Archibald, Patricia Archibald, James Archibald, Pamela Remkus and Ms. Labrozzi.

She was predeceased by her husband, Robert, who died at age 69 in 2013, and her parents, Edward and Katherine Archibald.

Memorial donations may be made to the Sag Harbor Fire Department Benevolent Fund, P.O. Box 209, Sag Harbor, NY 11963, or the March of Dimes, www.marchofdimes.com.

You May Also Like:

Scuttlehole Road Closed After Crash Friday

Scuttlehole Road in Bridgehampton has been closed following a car accident. 
 Southampton Town Police and emergency responders are on the scene. The road is expected to be closed for a significant period of time Friday afternoon. 11 Jul 2025 by Staff Writer

A Trailblazer: Professor Karl Grossman Retires, but the Work Continues

Inside The Cleveland Press newsroom of the 1960s, one word sent Karl Grossman running: “Copy!” ... by Michelle Trauring

Federal Funding for Public Media Is Close to Becoming a Thing of the Past | 27Speaks Podcast

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on May 1 instructing the Corporation for Public ... 10 Jul 2025 by 27Speaks

Developer Proposes 40 Affordable Apartments, Retail Stores in Riverside, Seeks $2.4M Grant From Southampton

An affordable housing developer who has worked with Southampton and East Hampton towns on several ... by Michael Wright

Korey Williams, Longtime Teacher and Lifetime Westhampton Beach Hurricane, Retires After 32 Years

Some teachers spend their entire career at one school. For a select few, they spend ... 9 Jul 2025 by Dan Stark

Let's Make a Deal

Since his swearing-in in January 2023, U.S. Representative Nick LaLota hasn’t faced a series of votes that rivaled the recent domestic spending package, which he played a significant role in pushing through Congress and onto President Donald Trump’s desk. It gave him a notable win: He proudly says he delivered on his promise to 1st District voters that he would get a reprieve on the federal government’s cap on the state and local tax deduction, or SALT. Ultimately, that’s true, with an asterisk. But it’s fair for voters to ask: At what price? Did a single-minded focus on this goal ... by Editorial Board

Stony Brook Medicine, UnitedHealthcare Reach New 3-Year Deal To Maintain Coverage

Stony Brook Medicine and UnitedHealthcare have inked a new three-year contract that will maintain coverage of visits to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and Meetinghouse Lane Medical physicians for those with UnitedHealthcare or Oxford insurance plans. The agreement was announced just a day before the expiration of a temporary extension of the previous agreements announced in June, when the state’s largest insurer began notifying its customers that Stony Brook’s hospitals and doctors would be out of network coverage soon. “There will be no interruption in coverage for any of our United/Oxford patients,” Stony Brook announced in a statement this week. “We ... by Michael Wright

GOP-Backed Candidates Knock Democrats Off Working Families Party Line in Primary Shake-Up

Absentee ballots that came in after last month’s primary voting bumped Democratic Party candidate Tom Neely from the Working Families Party line for the November ballot. Even though Neely had a one-vote lead after ballots from early voting and the June 17 primary day were tallied, 11 additional absentee ballots, which all went to challengers Ieshia Galicia and Andrew Smith, put the two first-time political candidates over the top for the tiny party’s line with 23 and 21 votes, respectively. A Working Families Party challenger to the Working Families Party’s official endorsement for town clerk, Mark Bernardo, had trailed his ... by Michael Wright

PSEG 'Storm Hardening' Power Lines in East Quogue This Summer

Crews from PSEG-Long Island will be conducting “storm-hardening” work on electrical transmission lines and circuits in East Quogue throughout the remainder of the summer as part of the company’s Power On initiative to improve reliability and resiliency in the face of severe storms. Crews will be replacing and upgrading mainline circuits along Spinney Road between Lewis Road and Serenity Place, along Lewis Road between Old Country Road and Quogue-Riverhead Road and on Damascus Road. The work is expected to take about two months to complete, PSEG said. “PSEG Long Island is committed to strengthening the electric infrastructure and improving reliability ... by Staff Writer

Southampton Adopts Hampton Bays Rezoning That Kills Cannabis Biz

The Southampton Town Board unanimously approved a sweeping rezoning of a swath of Montauk Highway ... by Michael Wright