Vera Skidmore (Bussanih) Ferrari died on July 28, 2018. She was 95.
Born on July 4, 1923, in Hampton Bays to Howard S. and Edith T. (Mills) Bussanih, joining sisters Bertha and Edna Alice. Both her parents were active members in the community; her father was a charter member of the Hampton Bays Fire Department and her mother kept the school children fed during her many years in the kitchen at the Hampton Bays High School.
Upon graduation from Hampton Bays High School, she went on to attend nursing school in New Jersey. She spent her career working for the Infants Home of Brooklyn caring for the dependent and neglected children. She married Eugene “Gene” Ferrari, after he completed his service in the military during World War II, on October 30, 1948; they were married for 61 years before he died in 2009. Together they raised their daughter, Judy.
She lived in Brooklyn for almost 40 years, retiring to the family home on Gravel Hill in the 1980s. She enjoyed horseback riding, as well as watching horse racing, and spending time at the ocean. She fondly remembered growing up in Hampton Bays, having bonfires on the beach, finding clams and mussels and cooking them in the fire, riding bikes with her best friend Janette to work picking fruit in the summer to earn a few cents for ice cream and school clothes, then spending the afternoons at the ocean. Climbing up and sitting on Hercules when he was near Canoe Place Inn, surviving the Hurricane of ’38, while in school, being relocated to basement with the other students until someone came to drive her home.
She was predeceased by her sister, Bertha and husband Robert Moots; a nephew, Paul; a sister Alice and husband Bus Mendenhall. She is survived by her daughter, Judy and husband Ira Goldman; grandson Jason and wife Isabell; and great-grandson Henry. She is also survived by niece Barbara Ristow and her children Teresa Ristow, Donnie Ristow and wife Laura; nephews John Moots and wife Marina,
Thomas H. Mendenhall and wife Peggy; grand-nieces Rebecca A. Mendenhall-Atkins and husband Matthew, Sarah E. Mendenhall-Luhmer and husband Erik and their children Noelle and Jakob Luhmer, Tracee L. Mendenhall, Jessica M. Mendenhall; niece Ann Cullum and husband Tim; nephew Scott Gordon and wife Mel; brother and sisters-in-law Delia Ferrari, Alfred and Lillian Ferrari; nieces and nephews, Lillian Ferrari, Albert Ferrari, Linda Leggio, Joseph Ferrari, Gina Ferrari, John Ferrari Jr., Angela Kennedy, Maria Ferrari, Al Ferrari Jr.; and her friend for more than 80 years, Smitty.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Scott-Rothwell Funeral Home in Hampton Bays.
on Jul 30, 2018