Lauretta Margaret Engstrom Hendrickson Of Hampton Bays Dies April 24

Lauretta Margaret Hendrickson (nee Engstrom) of Hampton Bays died on April 24 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. She was 95.

Ms. Hendrickson was born on December 10, 1924 in Brooklyn. A Long Island native, she lived in Wantagh, Levittown, Head of the Harbor, St. James, and for a short while, California, before returning to New York. She resided in Hampton Bays for the last 44 years.

Ms. Hendrickson left school in her junior year to go to work at the beginning of World War II. She was as an assembler and a drill operator on the “Wildcat” at Grumman Aircraft in Bethpage for the duration of the war.

After the war, she briefly worked at a music store and a candy factory before going on to be a “Ma Bell” telephone operator for seven years, until she married and raised a family.

Ms. Hendrickson loved God and she loved Jesus, her family said. She went to church, attended bible study and was a Sunday School teacher. She was known for crocheting Cross book marks and giving them out to friends, family, and church members. She also loved tending to her to garden and had an admiration for birds, her family noted.

She was predeceased by her husband, Raymond, in 2011 and their twin children, Mark and Marcia, who both died in their adult years. Her mother died when she was 4 years old. She was raised by her father, “Big Bill,” and stepmother, affectionately known as Nana. Ms. Hendrickson was the last living of six siblings.

She is survived by her youngest son, Scott Hendrickson; two grandchildren, Jennifer and Kevin Hendrickson; and her only great-grandson, Tristan Maffia. She is also survived by her niece and goddaughter, Laurie Petto; as well as four nieces, Luanne, Linda, Kathy, and Christine; and her nephew Freddie.

Arrangements were entrusted the Scott-Rothwell Funeral Home in Hampton Bays.