Nancy Gassert of Riverhead died Aug. 15, 2019 at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue. She was 74 years old.
Born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn on July 8, 1945, she was the daughter of Edward and Mildred O’Rourke. She moved with her family to Baldwin and graduated from Baldwin High School in 1963. The family later moved to Hampton Bays, where she worked in the health and beauty department of Hills Supermarket.
An avid bowler, she bowled in leagues and became a member of the 200 club. She met her future husband Howard Gassert at Wildwood Lanes, where he worked as a bartender
Nancy and Howard married on June 23, 1974 in Westhampton. They settled in Riverhead and raised a family of two children, Karen and Howard.
She was a devoted mother and homemaker. After her children entered school, she got involved in the parent-teacher organization. She served as president of the Riverhead Middle School PTO and was a founder of the Riverhead Central School District’s PTO Executive Council and served as its president also.
She was elected a trustee of the Riverhead Central School District in 1996 and served 12 years on the board of education, several as its president. (See remembrance: “Nancy Gassert: ‘blue and white, through and through’,” Aug. 15, 2019.)
Nancy was a huge fan of Riverhead High School athletics. Long beyond her tenure as a trustee, she never missed a game, her family said.
Nancy was retired from her work in the cleaning service she founded and operated, Cottages to Castles. She never retired from cheering on Riverhead students — whether on the court, the gridiron, baseball diamond — or speaking out for them from the podium at school board meetings.
She was a member of Baiting Hollow Congregational Church, a member and past president of Riverhead Townscape and a former member of the Town of Riverhead’s Recreation Advisory and Conservation Advisory committees. She was named Civic Person of the Year by the Riverhead News-Review in 1990.
Nancy suffered many health challenges over the years in the course of her longtime battle with Lyme’s disease, which caused extensive physical and neurological damage to her body. On Aug. 5 she suffered a hemorrhagic stroke that left her incapacitated. After four days at Southside Hospital she was transferred to the Kanas Center for Hospice Care on Aug. 9.
In addition to her husband of 45 years, she is survived by her daughter Karen Baiting Hollow, son Howard of Riverhead and grandchildren Evelyn and Adelaide of Baiting Hollow.
The family will receive visitors on Monday, Aug. 19 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at McLaughlin Heppner Funeral Home in Riverhead. A memorial service will be held at Baiting Hollow Congregational Church on Tuesday, Aug. 20. Interment will follow at the church cemetery.
