Harry G. Gustafson of Hampton Bays Dies July 14

Harry G. Gustafson of Hampton Bays died peacefully at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook on July 14. He was 99.

He had been in residence at the home since late 2021. Although bedridden in the end, he still celebrated his 99th birthday in style on June 23 with cake and song, surrounded by family and friends.

He was born in Brooklyn in 1925 to immigrant parents Fanny and John O. Gustafson, originally of Sundsvall and Borlänge, Sweden, respectively.

He attended New York City’s Andrew Jackson High School, before enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1943. He served in the Pacific Theater during World War II on the Destroyer Escort USS Lyman (DE-302).

He spent most of his working career with the New York Telephone Company.

He married his wife, Helene, in 1948 and the couple remained together for more than seven decades until her death in 2019. They bought their first home in Centereach in 1955, moving to Miller Place in 1972. They spent several years in Greensboro, North Carolina, beginning in 1986, before returning to Miller Place, and finally retiring to Hampton Bays in 1993.

He enjoyed playing golf, his tenor banjo, and “the horses.”

His past memberships included the Telephone Pioneers of America, Destroyer Escort Sailors Association, Long Island Banjo Society, and Southampton Elks Club Lodge 574.

He also valued volunteering, beginning with Our Savior Lutheran Church in Centereach, then the Miller Place Academy Free Library, the Miller Place Fire Department, and to many hours spent at the Hampton Bays Public Library. Always active and outgoing, he remained alert and engaging to the end.

He was predeceased by his wife, Helene E. Gustafson; and two of his three children, Elizabeth Eve and Mark John Gustafson. He is survived by his son Peter and daughter-in-law Mary of Leesburg, Virginia; grandsons John A. Gustafson of Richmond, Virginia, and Dustin C. Gustafson of Kakamigahara, Japan; along with his three great-grandchildren, Tor, Mona and Jin Gustafson.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Scott-Rothwell Funeral Home in Hampton Bays. Interment of his ashes will be at Good Ground Cemetery in Hampton Bays.

Donations in his memory may be made to the Endowment Fund for the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum (ussslater.org/donate), or the American Banjo Museum (americanbanjomuseum.com/donate).