Mary Roberta Lewis Hildreth of Sagaponack Dies July 26

Mary Roberta Lewis Hildreth of Sagaponack died on July 26 at the East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care on Quiogue. She was 94.

She was born in Sag Harbor on August 27, 1928, to Harold Flint Lewis and Elfrieda Lewis (née Garypie). She went to Southampton High School and graduated in 1946. She went on to earn a degree in education in 1950 from the State Teachers College at New Paltz (now SUNY New Paltz).

Hildreth taught fourth-grade in the East Hampton School District until she became a mother in 1953. She opened a private half-day nursery school six years later, when her second daughter was 3. She closed the nursery school in 1971 to help her husband in the Sagaponack General Store and Post Office.

She was an active member of the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church and an advocate for the underdog and the lonely, her family said, helping those in need when she could, providing gifts for the poor at Christmas and writing weekly letters to shut-ins from the church.

Hildreth also was environmentally conscious, creating little waste by reusing plastic bags, serving small but nutritious meals, and line-drying laundry whenever possible.

The family would like to thank East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care for their loving support and guidance.

She is survived by her daughter, Deborah Gail Hildreth Phelps (and Ted Phelps) of Valatie, New York; son-in-law, John Moss of Mattituck; grandchildren, Bree Elizabeth Moss, Eric Hildreth Moss, and Eleanor Hildreth Phelps; sister, Dorothy Lewis Tennant (and Gil Tennant); sister-in-law, Mary Louise (Mimi) Hildreth Leonard; brother-in-law, Tom Sayer; several nieces and nephews; and two great-granddaughters. She was predeceased by her husband, Merrall Topping Hildreth; daughter, Donna Jeanne Hildreth Moss; and siblings, Beatrice Lewis Holden (and John Holden), Eleanor May Lewis Graves (and Stuart Graves Jr.), George Lewis (and Pamela Gaynor Lewis), and Nancy Lewis Sayre.

A Celebration of Life memorial service will be held at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church on August 27 at 2 p.m., with the Reverend Adrian Pratt officiating.

Memorial donations may be made to East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978-7048; and The Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 3038, Bridgehampton, NY 11932.