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Helen K. Rood of Southampton died at her home on April 17. She was 101.
Born in Maspeth in 1912 to Frank and Blanche Koski, she moved as a child with her family to Southampton, where her father was the superintendent of the Claflin estate, later the site of Southampton College. A fond memory from her childhood told of helping to serve tea, dressed in a Dutch girl costume, to the Claflins’ guests in the windmill.
Ms. Rood attended Southampton schools and graduated as salutatorian of Southampton High School’s class of 1928. She attended Packard Business College in New York City and then returned to Southampton, where she worked for the Long Island Lighting Company and attorney David Gilmartin before joining Arrow Laundry in the 1950s, working there until she retired in 2000. Some residents of Southampton will remember receiving her beautifully handwritten monthly bills, survivors said. She was also employed by the Brockett Funeral Home for many years.
Ms. Rood was active in the community. As a member of the South Fork Concert Association, she worked to bring ballets and symphonies to the East End when it was still quite rural. An active and devoted member of the Southampton Methodist Church, she served as treasurer and a member of the church board. She was a 4H leader, volunteered at the Parrish Art Museum, and many saw her every year serving locally on behalf of the Board of Elections. Survivors said she was a proud and dedicated mother of her four children, a lover of opera and classical music, and a concerned, informed citizen.
In her later years Ms. Rood suffered from dementia. She was cared for in her home by her daughter, Sarah, and was a favorite at the senior citizen center in Hampton Bays, where she was known for her sense of humor, which she never lost.
She married Charles (Mac) Magruder Rood in 1943. They had four children, Robert “Mac,” Linda, Sarah and Beverly. She was predeceased by her husband in 1960 and her son Robert in 2011. She is survived by three daughters, Linda and husband Roger Turner of Vermont, Sarah of Southampton, Beverly and husband David Huysman of Remsenburg; and daughter-in-law, Karen Lane Rood of South Carolina. She is also survived by six grandchildren, Jonathan Rood and wife Jamie of South Carolina, Theodore Rood Turner of New York City, Elizabeth Rood Turner of Washington, and William, Charles, and Liam Huysman of Remsenburg; and two great-grandsons, Nelson and Benjamin Rood.
Visitation was April 19 at the Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton. A service was held at the Southampton United Methodist Church on April 21. Memorial donations may be made to the United Methodist Church of Southampton, 160 Main Street, Southampton, NY 11968; East End Hospice, www.eeh.org; or the Group for the East End, www.groupfortheeastend.org.
on Apr 21, 2014