Eileen M. (Kessler) Lohr of Hampton Bays died on January 11 at the Sunrise senior living residence in Holbrook, after a long illness. She was 90.
Ms. Lohr was born on June 29, 1924, in Albertson, New York. She graduated from Sewanhaka High School in 1942 and then went to Sperry’s and Republic Airports, working in aircraft construction during World War II, specializing in bomb bay doors. She moved to Pine Neck in Hampton Bays in the mid 1940s with her parents and three sisters.
Ms. Lohr met her husband, Bill, at the Hand Aldrich American Legion Post 924 in Hampton Bays, and they married on September 29, 1946. They both enjoyed all outdoor sports. She liked to roller skate, ice skate, snow ski, water ski, hunt water fowl, fish both in-shore and offshore, shoot skeet, bowl and play tennis. She rode horseback English style in high school.
She was a member of the Hampton Bays Bowling League, the Shinnecock Marlin and Tuna Club, and the Maidstone Gun Club. Ms. Lohr and her husband also had a small backyard farm over the years with sheep, horses, chickens, beagles and a small calf. Survivors said she was both spiritual and outgoing. She was a mother and homemaker, working a few early years in her marriage for the Hampton Bays Phone Company and then working for Carl and Jack’s Clothing Store.
Ms. Lohr also had a passion for baseball and was friends with Roberto Clemente, and was also a close friend to Rose Blass, whose son, Stephen, was a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1964 to 1974. Her close circle of friends were many and all were very dear to her, survivors said. One special person who was close to her heart was Archbishop Jean Marie Fortier of Sherbrooke, Canada, and his family.
Ms. Lohr is survived by her children, Kenneth and fiancée Diane of Cambridge, Linda Lohr-Kozofky Hagen and husband James, Mark Lohr and wife Monica, and daughter-in-law, Sharon Lohr Durand, all of Hampton Bays. She is survived by 13 grandchildren, Laurie Kozofsky, Eric Kozofsky and wife Michelle, Sarah Hagen, Jake Hagen, Eric Hagen and wife Katie, Deana Rodriguez and husband Lazaro, Shay Lohr and wife Danielle, Katrina Lohr and partner David Lofstad, Austin Lohr, Spencer Lohr and Griffin Lohr, Zoey Danna and Kareem Scott; and six great-grandchildren, Rio and Summer Rodriguez, and Stephanie, Jason, Dayna and Noelle Kozofsky; and Fisher Lofstad. Additionally, she is survived by three sisters, Anne De Land of Bethpage, Jean Donovan of Dix Hills, and Joyce Swagerman of Florida; a sister-in-law, Emmie Rusch of Southold; and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, Leo and Anna Kessler; her husband, William K. Lohr; a son-in-law, F. Roger Kozofsky; a granddaughter, Suzette Kozofsky; a niece, Sharon Hackal Kooney; and a nephew, William Rusch.
Visiting was on January 13 at the J. Ronald Scott Funeral Home in Hampton Bays. A funeral Mass was held on January 14 at the Church of St. Rosalie in Hampton Bays, followed by cremation.
Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Avenue, 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601-7633, or to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.