Nancy A. Pester

Lifelong Cutchogue resident Nancy A. Pester passed away Oct. 11, 2016, at her home.

Born in Greenport Nov. 25, 1955, she was the daughter of William S. Midgley Jr. and Jean (Dickerson) Midgley. Nancy graduated from Southold High School in 1973 and SUNY/Farmingdale, Phi Theta Kappa, in 1977.

Nancy worked for 15 years for Roy H. Reeve Insurance Agency, two years for Riverhead Building Supply AP department, eight years for Burt’s Reliable and Suffolk Security, and then entered what she called her “dream job” with the NYS-DOCCS as a correction officer.

Nancy was a member of the Mattituck Gun Club, Southold Griswold Terry Post American Legion auxiliary, the Town of Southold Affordable Housing Advisory Committee and the Greenport Skateboard Project.

Nancy opened her first martial arts school in 1981. The school moved several times until it found a home in Southold. Nancy had been promoted to the rank of Shihan (seventh-degree black belt), the highest rank you can achieve in the United States. She was nominated into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame and the Martial Arts Hall of Honor.

Nancy was an avid horseback trail rider, target shooter, dirt bike trail rider, bird hunter, Adirondack High Peaks mountain climber and gardener.

Nancy is survived by her husband, Walter E. Pester; her children, Clifford Bodenstein of Cutchogue and Danielle Nuhfer of Peconic; her granddaughter, Julie Starr Bodenstein; and her sister, Dorothy (Charles) Baxter of West Danville, Vt.

Visiting hours will be held Saturday, Oct. 15, from 9 to 11 a.m. at Coster-Heppner Funeral Home in Cutchogue followed by a service at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at First Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Southold.

Memorial donations may be made to the Southold American Legion Scholarship Fund or the Cutchogue Fire Department Scholarship Fund.

This is a paid notice.