Sarah Mae Steward Dyson Valenti of Quogue died on October 22, 2019 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. She was 87.
Born in North Carolina to Sarah Martin and Ethan Steward, she was the youngest of seven children. Her siblings were Algertia, Agathia, Harvey, Robert, Silas and Virginia, all of whom predeceased her.
Mrs. Valenti moved to Long Island in 1956. She couldn’t have children of her own, so she took care of other people’s children. When her sister, Agathia died, she took in her nieces, the late Marion Daniels and Mildred Wilkinson. She married Leonard Dyson, who predeceased her, of Quogue, and they adopted her niece, Regina, when she was 5 days old; Regina was her brother Robert’s daughter and her mother died in childbirth.
Years later, she married Michael Valenti, who predeceased her, of Center Moriches.
She is survived by her daughter, Regina Dyson; grandson Michael Dyson; and a host of nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews and nephew-in-law, Frederick Wilkinson. She was predeceased by a nephew-in-law, Danny Daniels. A funeral service will be held Tuesday, November 5, at 1 p.m. at the St. Paul A.M.E. Zion Church in Quogue.