Gertrude E. Ferrara, a lifelong resident of East Hampton, died of congestive heart failure on January 13 at the Springs house of her son Richard Ferrara Sr. Family members said last week that Mrs. Ferrara, 88, was comfortable as she spent her final days “below the bridge” at her son’s house.
Born December 23, 1921, in New York City to Robert MacGarva Sr. and Gertrude McDonald MacGarva, she was 5 when her father, a switchboard supervisor with New York Telephone Company and formerly a U.S. Navy electronics technician during World War I, was transferred to supervise the East Hampton and Sag Harbor switchboards and line crews.
Her family lived at 62 McGuirk Street in East Hampton, where she was raised. Her mother was a secretary and a suffragette.
Mrs. Ferrara graduated from East Hampton High School in the class of 1939. An original charter member of the Columbiettes, she worked at the Bulova Watch Factory and Grumman Aircraft and retired from Sag Harbor Savings Bank, all in Sag Harbor.
For many years she participated in St. Andrew’s Charismatic Prayer Group, serving as a eucharistic minister and as a member of the Rosary Group. She was also a scout den mother for three years in the early 1950s and a past member of both the Ladies Village Improvement Society and American Legion Ladies Auxiliary.
“A colloquial up-towner, under her breath, and with certain remorse, mom claimed she could never be a real Bonacker,” Mr. Ferrara said of his mother last week.
In addition to her two sons, Robert Hand Sr., a decoy artist in Sag Harbor, and Richard Ferrara Sr., a barber in Springs, she is survived by two brothers, Captain Richard MacGarva, retired U.S. Coast Guard of North Haven, and Robert MacGarva Jr. of East Hampton; and a sister, Mary Jane Anderson of East Hampton. She is also survived by four grandsons; five great-grandchildren; many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews; and a great-great-nephew, Liam Griffiths of Virginia.
She was predeceased by her first husband, George Hand, a farmer from Bridgehampton who descended from the earliest settlers; a second husband, Leonard Ferrara, a Long Island Rail Road track foreman also from Bridgehampton; and a grandson, Peter Ferrara of East Hampton.
A funeral mass was held on January 16 at St. Andrew’s Church in Sag Harbor, followed by interment at St. Andrew’s Cemetery. Also on January 16, the Columbiettes held a memorial prayer service at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, donations to East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978 would be appreciated by the family.
on Jan 26, 2010