Obituaries

Hope S. Hergrueter

Hope S. Hergrueter of Mattituck passed away peacefully April 23, 2015, at the Riverhead Care Center. She was 95 years old.

Hope was born on Jan. 20, 1920, to Alan F. Sawyer and Myra (Dutcher) Sawyer in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The family later moved to Mount Vernon, N.Y., where she graduated from A.B. Davis High School. She attended nursing school in Yonkers, N.Y., at St. John’s Riverside Hospital (later named The Cochran School of Nursing) and graduated with the Class of 1940. This began Hope’s long career of service to others. After becoming the school nurse teacher at Mattituck High School, she returned to college and graduated with a B.S. from Adelphi University. She retired from Mattituck-Cutchogue School in 1982 after 23 years of teaching.

She was involved as a leader of the Girls’ Sea Scouts and the East End Lions. Hope began her religious journey at Church of the Redeemer in Mattituck. She attended Greenport United Methodist Church with her husband, Otis M. Burt. Later, she joined Mattituck Presbyterian Church, where she was active as a Stephen Ministry Leader. Hope was also a deacon and an elder at MPC. At MPC, she was a member of the Women’s Association and the Lunch Bunch group.

Hope was an avid traveler. She enjoyed cruising throughout the world with her friends and family. Hope’s greatest joy was knitting. She has gifted many of her friends and family with handmade items.

Hope was predeceased by husbands Dr. Harlan B. Phillips, Otis M. Burt and Carl Hergrueter. She was also predeceased by a son, Harlan B. Phillips II, and a sister, Joan Fuchs, and by two stepdaughters, Sally Hergrueter and Rubina Burt Shephard.

She is survived by a sister, Gail Faircloth of Mattituck; three daughters, Leslie P. Tuthill (David) of Mattituck, Sherrill P. Kugler (Edward) of Mattituck and Kathie P. Brodeur (Patrick) of Jewett City, Conn.; four stepchildren, Robert M. Burt (Joan) of Webster, N.Y., Charles R. Burt (Carol) of Palm Springs, Calif., Dr. Charles Hergrueter (Megan) of Shelter Island and Wendy Murphy of Huntington; her grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Arrangements were entrusted to DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Homes.

Memorial donations may be made to East End Hospice or Mattituck Presbyterian Church.