Vera Godkin of Southampton and Manhattan died on October 1 in Simsbury, Connecticut. She was 95.
Ms. Godkin was born in Hove, England, on February 17, 1919, daughter of the late Herbert and Frances (Adam) Settle. She was raised in Brighton, England, and lived in London from 1939 to 1946. After World War II, she moved to New York City and took a position with the United Nations upon its formation, with assignments in New York, Paris and Beirut. After marrying her husband, Simon David Godkin, who predeceased her, she left the UN to raise her children, Lynda and David.
When her children left home for college, Ms. Godkin rejoined the UN as office manager of its office for retirees, the Association of Former International Civil Servants (AFICS), where she worked for more than 25 years, retiring at the age of 83.
Ms. Godkin took in all that weekday life in New York City had to offer, especially the theater, opera and ballet, with most weekends spent at the home she and her husband had built in Southampton. She also loved to travel. A gourmet cook and a crackerjack bridge player, she enjoyed the company of her friends, many much younger than she, and she remained independent until briefly before she died. Throughout her life, Ms. Godkin was very fond of drinking tea and beer, and she often credited these passions as reasons why she had enjoyed such good health into her 90s.
She is survived by a daughter, Lynda Godkin and husband Ken Hickey of Connecticut; a son, David Simon Godkin and wife Pamela Haran of Massachusetts; four grandchildren, Sarah Godkin DeLucia and husband Christopher of Washington, D.C., Rachel Leigh Hickey and fiancé William Earl Stephens III of St. Louis, Katherine Veronica Marcin and husband Jonathan of Los Angeles, and Nora Godkin of Washington, D.C.; a niece and two nephews, Anthony Manley of Tasmania, Helen Falkingham of Australia, and Geoffrey Falkingham of England.
She was predeceased by a sister, Pauline Falkingham.
Entombment in the Cedar Hill Cemetery Mausoleum in Hartford, Connecticut, will be private.
Memorial donations may be made to Hampton Bays Public Library, 52 Ponquogue Avenue, Hampton Bays, NY 11946, or by visiting www.hamptonbayslibrary.org. Online condolences may be left at www.carmonfuneralhome.com.
on Oct 20, 2014