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Obituary: Mary Louise (Coogie) Hourigan Powers

Mary Louise (Coogie) Hourigan Powers, 92, died May 05, 2012 at her home in Vero Beach, FL. Mrs. Powers was born in Wilkes-Barre, PA. When she was a small child she loved the movies of Jackie Coogan so much that the family coined the nickname “Coogie” by which she was known for the rest of her life.

Coogie attended Manhattanville College in New York City. She married her now deceased husband Charles A. Powers Sr. in 1940. They lived on Long Island, where she raised her family of three children first in Great Neck and then Sands Point. Later they moved to Locust Valley and finally to Vero Beach, FL, where she has lived for more than 30 years.

She is survived by her son Charles A. Powers Jr. (Cap) and his wife Lou Rae, her daughter Pamela M. Prokop and her husband Bob, and another daughter Patricia P. Woodlock and her husband Doug. Coogie’s grandchildren by birth order are Patricia Aitken Smith, Michael Aitken, Pamela Woodlock Egleston, Charles A. Powers III, Benjamin Woodlock, Christy Powers Allen and Gillian Prokop. Her great-grandchildren are David Smith, Ned Smith, Charlotte Powers, Anne Egleston and Caitlyn Powers. Two of her sisters, Rosina Bairstow and Elizabeth Burke, also survive her.

Coogie was an accomplished artist who maintained a life long interest in flowers and decorating as well. She and her husband traveled around the world extensively. She was a member of the Moorings Club of Vero Beach, the Sea Oats Garden Club, the Creek Club of Locust Valley and the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club of Port Washington.

The family would like to express its deepest thanks for the extraordinary loving care of Carol Parker and her wonderful staff of caregivers - Bev, Becky, Tina, Icela, Carol, Bridgette, Cathy and Aubrey.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to McKee Botanical Garden, 350 U.S. Hwy. 1, Vero Beach, FL 32963.

A celebration of her life was held at Holy Cross Church in Vero Beach on May 9. Arrangements by Cox-Gifford-Seawinds Funeral Home, Vero Beach. An online guestbook may be viewed and signed at www.coxgiffordseawinds.com.

News

On June 1, the Lutheran Church of Our Savior on Franklin Avenue held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house for the Port Washington community to celebrate its $1.7-million expansion and renovation. The money has been donated by the congregation as well as through fundraising efforts that have taken place for over a decade. BBS Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers designed the expansion and renovations, and Triton Construction served as the general contractor.

“I am very excited that we were able to improve our facilities for the benefit of the congregation as well as the entire Port Washington community,” said Reverend Dr. Charles R. Vogeley. “I would like to thank all congregation and project team members who made today’s re-opening celebration possible. In particular, I would like to recognize Tom Rice, who managed the entire project on behalf of our church, Roger Smith and BBS Architects, who designed the beautiful addition and new interiors, and the tireless supporter of the Port Washington community and parish secretary, after whom we have named the new kitchen, Veronica Ann Mosby,” Reverend added.

First Anniversary of Series

Café Music, the Friday night music series at the Dolphin Bookshop, will showcase a diverse line up of new and returning musicians this month. The series began on Friday, June 7, with songwriters Nikki Talley and Rupert Wates, performing in Port Washington for the first time. Talley performs Americana and Folk music with her husband. Based in North Carolina, she was excited to include Dolphin in her northeast tour. Wates is an award winning songwriter who also made his Dolphin debut.


Sports

On May 23, the Port Washington Badminton team won its second straight Nassau County Championship by defeating Calhoun by a score of 4-3.  This is the third year in a row that Port has played Calhoun in the county finals, with each contest decided by a score of 4-3.  In many ways this season followed the same pattern as last year.  Of the thirty five teams in the county, Calhoun and Port entered the playoffs as the one and two seeds, respectively.  They were Conference I co-champions, but because Calhoun’s margin of victory was greater than Port’s in their two regular season matches, the Colts got the number one seed.  

On April 16, Port travelled to Calhoun and lost 1-6.  The final team score, however, did not reflect how close the match actually was.  Four of Calhoun’s wins came in three set matches (matches are best of three) that came down to the final few points.  According to Coach David O’Connor, “It was the best 1-6 loss I’ve ever seen.  We walked out of their gym very confident that we could beat them in the future.  It may have been a major loss on paper, but I think it really got our players motivated for the rest of the season.”  

In only its third season, Port Rowing has grown from an exciting start up to a Long Island powerhouse, to a state champion, and now to a top national contender. Three boats qualified from New York State championships to represent Port Rowing at the largest high school Regatta in the world, The Stotesbury Cup, in Philadelphia. There were over 150 schools from America and Canada at the event, and Port Rowing came right out of the gate on fire. The team advanced all three boats into the second round of top 18. In the second round the boats fell just shy of the top 6 final by mere seconds. In the end, the Boys Freshman 8 took 12th overall, and the girl’s lightweight four and men’s junior eight took 7th overall. In the Adaptive category, Michael and Molly took home the title with a demanding victory in the double. It was a great achievement from the pair that just started rowing together less than a year ago to win the Stotesbury Cup.


Calendar

Opening Day at Manorhaven Pool

Saturday, June 15

Building a Bat Box at Sands Point Preserve

Sunday, June 16

Water Panel at Port Washington Library

Wednesday, June 19



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