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Carol Simon, 61
Carol Simon hasn’t used a car in the [14] summers she’s lived on the island. “I let my license go sometime in the 90s and I haven’t driven since,” she said. “I just decided, ‘I’m done.’”
Simon is a vagabond. During the summer, she moves from house to house based on whatever pet-sitting jobs she can find; during the winter she lives in Florida. She also makes ends meet by gardening and cutting hair at Mark’s Beachcomber Hair Salon. The one constant in her erratic life is her 3-speed, 1949 Raleigh bike.
“I’m homeless by choice,” she said. Freed from owning a house and a car, “I live in absolutely beautiful houses that I could never buy or rent,” she said. “I don’t worry about things that other people have to worry about.”
Choosing to not use a car is part of her larger aim to “keep dropping out” of things, she said. “I’ve tried to make my life as simple as I possibly can,” she said. “Although I work, I’m not money-oriented. I have nothing, and I want nothing.”
But if there are no pet-sitting jobs available, “I wing it,” Simon said. “I can land in a place and not even know where I’m staying. But I’m not afraid of that. I can get out any time I want. I live better than a lot of other people.”
Simon is firmly anti-car.
“We need to get the cars off the island,” she said. “I think the island is way too small for cars. People who want to enjoy the beauty of this island need to ride and need to walk. I think that only residents should have them.”
Simon fears that “Sooner or later, we’re going to have a small disaster here,” she said. “There are too many things going on. There’s too many people coming over.”
Carol lived on Block Island for 14 years. She passed away after a brief illness on July 13, 2008. In lieu of a service, donations to the Mary D. Fund would be appreciated.
Thomas Michael McErlean, 51
05/29/10 - Thomas Michael McErlean of New York, N.Y. and Cooneymus Road died suddenly on May 21 in New York City. Tom graduated from Iona Preparatory School in 1976 and from Iona College with a degree in business in 1981. His successful Wall Street career spanned over 25 years beginning at Freeman Securities before joining Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, as a bond trader and UBS where he was a managing director. Tom was most recently a Senior Vice President and Head of Credit Trading for Alliance Bernstein.
He will be remembered for his fabulous sense of humor, enthusiasm and energy for life that included flying his Piper Saratoga. He was a devoted husband to his beloved wife, Kathy (Wild); a loving and proud father to his daughter Elizabeth Ann and his son Charles Thomas. He is also survived by his parents John Thomas and Agnes (Inglesby), of Westerly, R.I.; four sisters, Ann of Westerly, Marie Hunter (Kevin) of North Caldwell, N.J., Agnes Duhamel (Chris) of Westerly, and Catherine Francese (Carl) of New Rochelle, N.Y.; as well as seven nieces and 12 nephews. He was predeceased by his brother, John Thomas, Jr. (Beth McCarthy McErlean Pierce). A funeral Mass was held May 26 at St. Augustine’s Church in Larchmont, N.Y. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to Block Island Conservancy, P.O. Box 84, Block Island, RI 02807.
Iris Macaulay Lewis, 105
8/28/10 — Iris Macaulay Lewis, a long-time resident of Block Island and for a while the island’s oldest citizen, passed away quietly in South Windsor, Conn. at 1:30 a.m., August 23, at the home of her daughter, Berris Pantaluk.
Iris was born July 11, 1905, in Toronto, Ontario to Ana Nelline and John Hamilton Macaulay. Ana Nelline was by birth a member of the Pandaraug family of Bombay, India, who traced their lineage back several thousand years to Persian royalty. John Hamilton Macaulay was born in Kibworth Beauchamp, near Leicester, England, where the Macaulay family had lived for many generations. A family forebear, English historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, was Iris’s great-great-great-great uncle.
Iris was orphaned at the age of three, after she and her mother both contracted diphtheria. Her mother, age 26, died in the bed next to Iris in a city hospital ward in Newark, N.J. Iris lived with her aunt and uncle, Irene and Harold Littledale, Jr., for two years, then was sent to an orphanage in Peekskill, N.Y., where her younger sister, Rosemary, had been placed.
In 1911, at the age of six, Iris was put on a ship, the New York, by her uncle and sent alone across the Atlantic to live with her Aunt Olga in South Wales. Two years later, Iris’s sister, Rosemary, was sent to live in the household.
Iris attended Howells School in Llandaff, Wales, from 1917 to 1921, the same school her mother had attended. At school, she learned to appreciate natural gifts that she would enjoy all her life: a flair for learning ancient and modern languages, a love of writing and reading, a love of learning, and an ease in learning and performing music that stemmed from her gift of perfect pitch.
At age of 16, Iris was removed to Tower Cressy, an institution in London for underprivileged children run by the National Children’s Adoption Association, where she trained as a nanny.
Iris met relatives while in London. She had tea with her Pandaraug grandparents. Her Grandfather Pandaraug had at one time been the High Sheriff of Bombay, a prestigious post in colonial India.
Iris also met her Macaulay relatives in London, and she and her sister were invited to live with their aunt and uncle, Mary Macaulay Phillips and Dr. Edgar Vaughan Phillips, in Kibworth Beauchamp. Iris said, in later life, “Aunt Mollie and Uncle Edgar were the dearest people I’d ever met, and their world was a whole new world to me.”
Upon graduation from Tower Cressy, Iris trained first as a hospital nurse, then as a Montessori nursery school teacher at All Saints Nursery College in Harrogate, Yorkshire. She had always loved children, another trait that followed her throughout her life.
At age 22, she returned alone to America, “Looking for roots somewhere,” she said, and she put her Montessori training to work as a governess and nanny to various families. In the ensuing years, she crossed the Atlantic 11 times by ship and once by air to visit her relatives in England, but by that time considered America her home.
In 1932, Iris married Wallace I.A. Carlson. Their two sons, Aulay and Douglas, were born in New York, and the family lived on Long Island. The marriage ended in divorce.
Iris married her second husband, Bertrand Mulloy Lewis, in 1941, and the couple moved to Connecticut, living first in Middlebury, then Washington. Their neighbors included Louisa and Alexander Calder, who had children the same age as Iris’s sons. The families became close friends.
Iris and Bert’s daughter, Berris, was born in Waterbury, Conn. The family moved to Middlebury in 1946. That marriage also ended in divorce.
Iris moved her family to Woodbury and took a job at Southbury Training School as a vocational instructor. Her career at Southbury encompassed 12 years, during which she introduced then-innovative programs for teaching simple skills to teenage girls. “My programs were original and pragmatic and the children loved them,” she recalled in later life.
She started the first class in the state of Connecticut for handicapped children at Harkness, near New London, employing Montessori methods. “I finally succeeded, after many arguments, in having my students allowed to take part in all the programs the other children had. They went to the gymnasium, played games that they could play from their wheelchairs, and they loved to sing. I also loved to sing, and we gave concerts,” she recalled.
When the commute to New London became too much, Iris returned to Southbury Training School and took charge of the weaving room, teaching boys with Down’s Syndrome to weave on 18 large looms. After sewing strips of colored corduroy together in various lengths and colors, Iris taught the students to weave them into “Truly gorgeous rugs, all of which sold at our yearly fair like hotcakes, and we were asked for more,” she remembered.
In Woodbury, Iris had become friendly with Theodore and Kyra Bostroem, Russian émigrés from aristocratic families. The Bostroems offered Iris and her family a great deal of help and support.
Through other friends in Connecticut, Iris heard of Block Island and started coming here in 1950. From the first, she said she felt drawn to the island and felt she belonged here. Her friend Kyra Bostroem made it possible for Iris to stay in a cottage on Center Road, behind the house owned by Kyra’s niece, Manya Ritter.
She made the island her permanent home in 1967. It was on Block Island that Iris found a sense of having roots in a place, a feeling she had never had before. She spoke of her years of living on Block Island as the best time of her life.
For many of those years, she lived in an apartment at E. Searles Ball housing on West Side Road. “I love to look out of my window and see the Great Salt Pond, whether it’s misted over or clear. I like to see what birds are flying around. I enjoy looking across the pond at night, for the North Light to turn on,” she said.
In 1998, she became eligible to be the official holder of Block Island’s gold-headed ebony cane, presented to the town in 1909 by the Boston Post newspaper company with the stipulation that it “always be held by the oldest citizen of this Town.” Referring to herself as “The Matriarch,” Iris took the cane out for ceremonial occasions: participation in the Fourth of July parade and watching the Polar Bear swim from the safety of Fred Benson Town Beach.
During her years on Block Island, Iris remained active as a Care Wear volunteer, knitting baby blankets and sets of sweaters, caps and booties that she sent to hospitals all over the country for premature babies. She was involved with the Elder Care Task Group, and at one point set up a legal defense fund for Rustic Rides. She enjoyed photography, and one of her photos was used in the 1995 Scenic Rhode Island Calendar.
When she was close to 100 years of age, Iris went ice boating for the first time in her life with island resident and ice boater Charlie Gale. She was thrilled and exhilarated by the experience.
Iris chose to leave the island after her 100th birthday and relocate to South Windsor, Conn., to live near family on the mainland.
In addition to her daughter, Berris Shelagh Pantaluk, Iris is survived by two sons, Aulay Phillips Carlson and Douglas Gilmore Carlson; 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, September 4, 11 a.m., at the Church of the Living God, 199 Deming Street, Manchester, Conn., 06040. A reception will follow at the home of Berris and Peter Pantaluk in South Windsor, Conn., phone number (860) 644-6055. Donations in Iris’s memory may be made to the Church of the Living God/Youth Missions, at the above address.
Daniel Francis Hart, Jr., 66
10/23/10 — Dan Hart passed away peacefully at his home on Corn Neck Road Saturday, October 16, 2010, after a courageous two-year battle with cancer. He leaves his wife, Deborah and two sons Devlin and Alexander. He was the son of the late Daniel F. Sr. and Mary (Tenner) Hart and the brother of Raymond Hart.
Dan grew up in Warwick, and spent his summers on Block Island, coming here for the first time at the age of one month. His summer employment included five years as a lifeguard at the now Fred Benson Town Beach and various jobs within the Mott Hotel Corporation. Dan graduated from Bishop Hendricken High School and Johnson and Wales College. He was a veteran of the United States Army.
After his honorable discharge, Dan returned to Block Island for one more summer and then pursued a career in business on the mainland. The lure of Block Island proved too powerful and in 1968, Dan left the business world and moved permanently to Block Island. He worked in the construction field and served the Town of New Shoreham as the superintendent of the Sewer Plant and the building inspector.
Dan developed many relationships on Block Island and his loyalty as a friend was intense and unequivocal. He and his friends enjoyed fishing, duck hunting, and clamming.
Dan was the devoted “First Mate” of Capt. Freddie “Finn” Howarth, both offshore and onshore. The adventures with the Finn and lifelong friend Blake Phelan on Block Island, across the country and through Europe are the stuff of legends. Just about anybody who came in contact with “Hully Gully” has a story to tell. Unforgettable is the only word to describe the memories.
Dan’s greatest pride and joy and the center of his life was his family, his wife of 33 years, Debby and sons Devlin and Alex. His role as husband and father was the one he cherished most and he never wavered in his devotion.
Dan’s service will be private and at sea. A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.
Donations in his memory can be made to the Block Island Medical Center or the Block Island Conservancy.
Peter Harry Westlake, 66
10/23/10 — Peter Westlake, longtime island summer visitor from Deansboro, N.Y., died October 11, 2010 after a long struggle with cardiac issues.
He was born November 25, 1943, under a bed during a bombing raid in England, the son of Kenneth and Muriel Westlake. The family moved to Windsor, Ontario in 1950 and to Piscataway, N.J. when he was 17. He married Catharine Johnston Morgan on August 25, 1973. He became an American citizen in 2004.
He savored times he spent with family and friends on Block Island. Peter and Catharine stayed at the Bellevue House every summer since 1980. He regularly went striper fishing aboard the G. Willi Makit and was an avid support of the island conservancies, the Ocean View Foundation and the Block Island Maritime Institute.
He started his career as a framer for Swain’s Gallery and had work hanging in the White House, was co-director of Westlake Gallery in White Plains, N.Y. He was manager of Michael’s Tavern in Somers, N.Y. during the mid-80s and in 1989 moved to Clinton, where he formed Peter’s Painting and Papering. In 2008, he was named facilities manager for the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization.
A longtime member of Lions Club, he raised record amounts of money for the Walk for Sight in Westchester and Clinton. He was passionately involved with the Alexander Hamilton Institute and all of its educational enterprises, where he and his wife were recently honored with the naming of a classroom.
He is survived by his wife, sons Howard and Virginia Morgan and Christopher (“Kip”) and Marie Morgan of Darien, Conn., six grandchildren: Reed, Andrew, Catharine, Kylie, William and Penelope; also by two brothers David (Linda) and Paul Westlake of New Jersey and an aunt, Shirley, of Windsor, Ont.
Donations may be considered to the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization, 21 West Park Row, Clinton, NY 13323.
Obituaries Natalija Sarkis Gerke, 90
Obituaries Natalija Sarkis Gerke, 90 Natalija Sarkis Gerke, 90, of Southeast Road, Block Island, died on Thursday, Aug. 26, at the Block Island Medical Center after being stricken at home.
She was the wife of the late Bernhard Gerke. She was born in Latvia, a daughter of the late Peter and Ivea (Ocols) Sarkis, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1948.
Natalija first moved to Block Island in 1986, previously living in Greenwich, Conn., and La Jolla, Calif. She was a member of the Latvian Society, and is survived by three daughters: Ruta Brunner of Vienna, Austria; Brigita Gerthe of San Francisco, Calif.; and Ingrid Giusti of Block Island and Greenwich, Conn.; and a son, Bernhard Gerke-Waitsberg of Washington, D.C.; and six grandchildren.
Norman M. Swindells, 72
Norman Swindells passed away July 15 at his home in Philadelphia, Pa. He spent his childhood summers on Block Island and lived here year-round from 1962 to 1965. Since then he came out every year to visit, vote and work on his home off Dorry's Cove Road.
“He had to be one of the smartest, funniest and most generous persons that I have ever met,” said Jon Grant, who has been renting Swindells’s house for 22 years.
Swindells was the beloved husband of Geraldine (nee James) Swindells, and the stepfather of Craig Huff (Minnerva); Victoria Newman (John); Christopher O’Neill, Sr.; Erin O’Neill-Hayes (James); and father-in-law of Cheryl O’Neill. He was the grandfather of Rebecca, Martinique and Norman Huff and Christopher O’Neill Jr., and great-grandfather of Isabella, Caleb and Francesca Huff. He leaves a sister, Jacquelyn Morgan (John).
Swindells served in the U.S. Army, achieving the rank of second lieutenant. He will be lovingly remembered by his nieces, nephews and cousins and especially by the James family and many friends.
Rite of committal will occur Tuesday, July 24, 12:30 p.m. at the Island Cemetery on Block Island. Memorial contributions may be made in his name to the Batchelder Memorial Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 602, Block Island, RI 02807.
Francis Joseph Lofaro, 32
Francis Joseph (Frank) Lofaro, son of Anna Marie and Michael Lofaro of Schooner Point, died suddenly in his home in New York City September 10.
He lived most of his life in Port Washington, N.Y., and graduated from Chaminade High School in 1993. He received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from New York University and recently completed a paralegal course at Long Island University, with the intention of continuing on to law school.
He was described by those who knew him as “a kind, gentle, personable man with a warm smile” who would always find the time to help with the computer problems encountered by family and friends alike. He was also a great baker. His cookies and biscotti were specialties. When he wasn’t glued to the computer or whipping up something in the kitchen, he could usually be found with a pair of knitting needles in his hands making blankets to welcome all the new babies to the family.
Most of all, Lofaro loved his family, especially his brother Michael Jr. of Maui, Hawaii, and his three nephews; Shea, 6, Paytn, 4, and Niam, 2. He is also survived by his grandmother, Theresa Ida Buchholz of North Carolina, and a large extended family.
A gathering to celebrate Lofaro’s life will be held Saturday, November 3, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the New York Athletic Club, 180 Central Park So., New York, N.Y.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Shriner’s Hospital for Children, 51 Blossom St., Boston, MA 02114 to the attention of the “Donation Department,” or to the St. Francis Breadline, 135 W 31 St., New York, NY.
