Marilyn Ann Fordham Acquino Formerly Of Southampton Dies May 1

Marilyn Ann Fordham Acquino, formerly of Southampton, died from COVID-19 on May 1 at the Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead. She was 88.

Ms. Acquino was born to William and Caroline Fordham on April 16, 1932 in Southampton. She grew up in Southampton, visiting often with her maternal grandparents Tony and Carolyn Halsey Wilde and her father’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Irving Terry, who owned the Irving Hotel.

Between “Carrie” Wilde, who was a hoot, and her grandmother Terry, who was a snoot, she had quite a wonderful childhood, her family said.

During the war, the Fordhams moved to Akron Ohio where her father built fighter planes. After the war, the family moved to Westport, Connecticut, where she met her husband and high school sweetheart John G. Acquino. They would have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary this June.

Ms. Acquino’s passions, besides her mob of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her family said, were the ocean, going to yard sales, and her association with the First Presbyterian Church of Southampton, which she attended most of her life.

She was an artistically talented person who could paint, draw, do any kind of knitting/needlepoint/macramé, and even make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich look just right, her family recalled. She had made hundreds of friends over the years, and will be missed by all, they said.

She was pre-deceased by her second son William (Nancy). She is survived by a sister Judy Schenk of Cape Coral Florida; her husband John George Acquino; her sons John (Monica), David (Mary), Chris (Deborah) and her daughter Jill. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Lauren (John), Kristine and Michael (Bill), Amanda and Nicholas (David), Jason, Candice and Katilyn (Chris) and Siobhan, Serena and Ariel (Jill); and 13 great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held to honor her life when circumstances permit at the First Presbyterian Church of Southampton.