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This portrait of Joyce Anderson with her carving tools accompanied a 1956 New York Times profile of the Andersons. A piano bench created for the Andersons’ friends and patrons Sandra and Louis Grotta, contemporary crafts collectors in Harding Township, New Jersey. Architect Richard Meier designed the Grottas’ home. The couple filled it with custom pieces by the Andersons, including a ten-foot-long wall-hung walnut cabinet (top) and a coffee table (below). The Grotta collection also includes works by ceramicists Rudy Autio, Ken Ferguson and Wayne Higby; the textile artist Françoise Grossen; and the woodturner Bob Stocksdale. © Tom Grotta
Marie Elise Anderson, a Hampton Bays resident for 57 years, died at her home on September 9. She was 86.
Ms. Anderson was born on April 4, 1928, to Joseph, a house painter, and his wife, Celine, a governess and cook, who both came from Switzerland through Ellis Island. She grew up extremely poor, moving from the Bronx to Valley Steam, where she graduated from high school. She then graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Adelphi University and a nursing degree from New York Medical College at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital. She received the highest score in the state on her nursing boards, and survivors said she loved her fellow nurses at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital. She was in charge of overseeing entire floors at the hospital.
Ms. Anderson married Sigfried W. Anderson in 1953. She supported the two of them for a few years until his business, S.W. Anderson Sales Corp., based in Farmingdale, took hold. Ms. Anderson loved the people of Hampton Bays, her children, her grandchildren and animals. Survivors said she had a twinkle in her eye, and always liked chatting and good-natured teasing. She adored her grandchildren and they adored her.
She took in stray animals of any kind. Dogs, cats, squirrels, goats, chickens, ducks, turtles, rabbits, snakes and geese—she cared for them all.
She was predeceased by her son, Gary Anderson, in 2000, and her husband, Sigfried, in 2009. She is survived by a son, Michael Anderson of Sayville and Hampton Bays; a daughter, Laurie Anderson and husband Mark Freyberg of Chappaqua and Hampton Bays; and seven grandchildren, Michael Anderson, Jason Anderson, Corey Anderson, Tyler Anderson, Shelly Anderson, Michael Freyberg and Derek Freyberg; and cousin, Ellie Stice of Maine.
Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the J. Ronald Scott Funeral Home in Hampton Bays.
Memorial donations may be made to the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Center at 228 West Montauk Highway, Hampton Bays, NY 11946 or online at www.wildliferescuecenter.org or Cody’s Cause for Cody Schulman at Giveforward.com.
on Sep 15, 2014