Bench Plaque That Was Missing For More Than 15 Years Is Dug Up By Clammers And Returned To Rightful Owner

Debra Huneken and her niece, Kristin Brandl, were digging for clams earlier this month when they unexpectedly dug up a different kind of treasure.

While plying the mud in the waters in the Bay Point neighborhood of Sag Harbor on August 20, the pair unearthed a heavy, rectangular memorial plaque that had, somehow, ended up in the bottom of the bay. Huneken goes clamming frequently, and always takes her niece with her when she’s visiting with her family during the summer from the Saratoga area. It’s not unheard of to come across a foreign object, Huneken said, but before long they realized they had something unique on their hands — or rather, in their clam rakes.

“It was really muddy. We were losing our shoes because there was so much mud,” Huneken said. “We were getting clams, and my niece said, ‘There’s something really big down here,’ and I told her to be careful, but that it was probably just a cinder block. We pulled it up and it was really heavy and realized it was a bronze memorial plaque.”

The plaque, Huneken said, was totally corroded, indicating it had been in the muck at the bottom of the shallow bay waters for some time. They brought the plaque home, along with their day’s haul of clams, and then spent some time contemplating what to do with it. They considered dropping it off with the Sag Harbor Village Police, but then decided to, as Huneken said in an Instagram post, “let the internet do its thing.”

She posted a photo of the plaque, which, while in bad condition, still clearly bore the name of its honoree, Sag Harbor resident Robert “Bob” Harrington, who died in 2004. Private messages started pouring in right away, and before long, Huneken was connected with Steve Harrington, Robert Harrington’s son.

The plaque had been affixed more than 10 years ago to a park bench at the end of Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, but at some point, several of the park benches in the village that had similar plaques had been vandalized, with the plaques removed.

Before returning the plaque to the younger Harrington, Huneken took it to Bridgehampton Auto Sport, where she works, and blasted away some of the corrosion, cleaning it up and giving it a coat of clear finish to make it look like new again and to prevent any further wear and tear.

The plaque honors the life of Robert Harrington, who went by Bob or Bobby, who was born in 1943 and died in 2004. It refers to him as being a “family man, Sag Harbor man, military man, police lt. man, detective man, fishing man,” and more including, ironically, “clamming man.”

Steve Harrington, Bob’s son, said he did not ever expect to see the plaque again after it had been removed from the bench. The plaque had been a gift from family friends Judy and Walter Dulski, and the words on the plaque were part of the eulogy delivered by Bob Harrington’s son-in-law, William Horan, at the funeral. It described Harrington’s life to a T, Steve Harrington said, pointing out that his father was a 23-year member of the Southampton Town Police Department, and was very involved and influential in the Sag Harbor Volunteer Fire Department, serving as chief for several years in the early 1990s. Harrington said his father had a zest for serving the community and for living life to the fullest.

“He lived life like he wasn’t going to wake up the next morning,” he said.

Harrington said the plaque is in his home now, and he’s unsure what he’s doing to do with it. He said he’s afraid to have it affixed to the bench once more, for fear of losing it again, but he expressed gratitude to Hunker for finding it and giving it back to him in good condition.

Huneken said she was happy that in a small twist of fate, she was the one who was able to reunite the younger Harrington with the plaque honoring his father’s life.

“I felt like it’s a nice thing,” she said. “I could’ve easily brought it to the police station, but they have better things going on and it might’ve got put in the lost and found. Posting it online, within 24 hours I had someone calling me.”

It was not the first time Huneken had returned a cherished and long-lost item to its original owner. When she moved into her home in Bay Point, she found a time capsule that had been placed inside of the walls by the previous homeowner. She used the internet to her advantage in that instance as well, and the original owner was able to take it back. The capsule included her high school diploma.

“I like doing stuff like that,” Huneken said. “It makes people happy. There’s so much garbage in the water that it was nice to find something like this instead.”