Mary Moore of Sag Harbor Dies April 19

Mary Moore of Sag Harbor died on April 19 in Sag Harbor. She was 88.

She was born on May 9, 1934, and grew up in Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey, in a household of women with her sister Jean, mother and grandmother, aunt and cousin Jane.

She became a registered nurse, graduating from St. Vincent’s Hospital Nursing School in 1955. She married Dr. Matthew J. Ferguson, and raised a family of five boys and one girl in Greenwich Village.

She was an active, respected and outspoken member of her “Village” community and served on numerous school, charity, and church boards and committees, her family said.

Moore restored the Ferguson family brownstone, built in 1841, where she raised her six children and welcomed the many families and friends who touched her own large family, including at an annual black tie gathering on Christmas Eve.

In 1982, Moore founded the very successful MMF Nursing agency, and proved to be an astute businesswoman, according to her family. She was respected by the nurses she represented and cared about.

She moved to Sag Harbor in 1990. There, she lovingly restored a 19th century whaling captain’s home and occasionally ran a bed and breakfast — “without the breakfast,” she would say. Her many friends, old and new, and her family have gathered at her home in the past three decades.

Moore supported and housed the actors and stagehands of Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre, and she was a tour guide at the Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum.

She met her second husband, Charlie Lulay, at the East Hampton Historical Society, where he often dressed as a “rebel” soldier, reenacting events from the Revolutionary War period.

Moore enjoyed collecting antiques and art, entertaining, oil painting, and restoring and decorating old homes. She worshiped at St. Joseph’s, St. Vincent’s Chapel and St. Francis Xavier in Greenwich Village, and Saint Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sag Harbor.

She was known by her vast network of friends to have frequented many other churches in the Hamptons. Her first passion was helping and guiding others who needed a little extra love in life, her family said, noting that she did so selflessly.

She is survived by her children, Matthew, Terence, Marykate, Andrew, and Timothy; 11 grandchildren; several daughters-in-law and sons-in-law; and two great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Jean Kearney; three nieces and two nephews; and her cousin Jane Ford. She was predeceased by her husband, Charles Lulay; son Michael John and his wife Theresa Renz; and first husband, Dr. Matthew J. Ferguson.

A Catholic funeral Mass will be held at Saint Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sag Harbor on Saturday, June 24, at 11 a.m. An earlier service to celebrate her life will be held at the Church of St. Francis Xavier in New York City on May17 at 4:30 p.m.