Bernice Elfrieda Lewis Holden, Formerly Of Southampton, Dies February 5

Bernice Elfrieda Lewis Holden of Lake Ronkonkoma and formerly of Southampton died on February 5. She was 97.

She was born on May 6, 1924 in Sag Harbor to Dr. Harold F. and Elfrieda Garypie Lewis. The family moved from Sag Harbor to Mineola for a short while before settling in Southampton. She attended and graduated from the Southampton School District.

In 1947, she married John I. Holden and they resided in Southampton, where they raised their three children, Mary, George and Lester. She was a stay-at-home mom before the children were of school age and then took a part time job at Corwin’s Jewelry, where her hours permitted her to be at home when the children came from school.

She was also very involved with activities in the First Presbyterian Church, such as teaching the nursery level Sunday School for many years and attending Women’s Circle, where her lovingly knit baby sweaters were always a big hit at the Christmas bazaar. She also loved doing crosswords, cryptograms and working on jigsaw puzzles.

She was predeceased by her husband of 74 years, John Holden; her sisters Eleanor Graves and Nancy Sayre; and a brother George Lewis. She is survived by her sisters Mary Hildreth and Dorothy Tennant; brothers-in-law Tom Sayre and Gil Tennant; a daughter Mary Maran; sons George Holden and Lester Holden and his partner Patricia Carr; a granddaughter Margaret Paige Yoder and husband Scott; grandsons Chad Maran and wife Megan, John Holden and David Holden; great-grandchildren Elyse Maran, Grace Maran and Sadie Maran; and several nieces and nephews and their families.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the First Presbyterian Church in Southampton (1stpresbyterian.church) would be greatly appreciated.