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Rebecca Vail Terry

Rebecca Vail Terry

Rebecca Vail Terry, lifelong Southold resident, was born to Richard Penny Vail and Ruth Hallock Vail on June 18, 1918, and passed away on Aug. 26, 2010.

A beloved community member, she could trace her roots back to town founders Peter Hallock and Jeremiah Vail. She graduated from Alfred University and received a master’s degree from SUNY/Geneseo in library science in 1942. Her first job was at Sedgewick Junior High School in West Hartford, Conn.

In 1944 she married 1st Lt. Rensselaer Goldsmith Terry Jr., who, after having served at Pearl Harbor, joined his uncle’s law firm, Terry and Krupski, in Southold.

While raising two children, Becky took a part-time job as Southold High School librarian and later worked at Cutchogue and Southold libraries.

She was a member of the Southold Historical Society, where she held offices and was a docent; Minnepaug, where she was president; and the Universalist Church, where she was church school superintendent; and she belonged to the Junior League, the Chorale and the Seagyan Club. Becky had an excellent mind and wrote historical pieces about the North Fork for 15 years for the Peconic Bay Shopper. She continued with Taproots writing group and Bible study into her 80s.

Missing her greatly are her children, Barbara Terry Charnews of Centerport and husband, Daniel, and Richard Terry of Lake Placid, N.Y., and wife, Margaret Doran; grandchildren Daniel T. Charnews of Huntington and Bethany Dermody and husband, Stephen, of Hopkinton, N.H.; brother Floyd Vail and wife, Audrey, of Mattituck; sister-in-law Elizabeth Terry of Fairfax, Va.; brother-in-law John Hauser of Kent, Conn.; and two great-grandsons. She was predeceased by her husband and her sister, Alicia Reeve.

Visitation will be at DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Southold today, Thursday, Sept. 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. A memorial service will be held at First Universalist Church in Southold tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 3, at 11 a.m.

Gifts in her name may be given to Southold Free Library or First Universalist Church.