Amelia Vilar, 85

Amelia Vilar of Springs passed away suddenly on May 8 while on vacation in Portugal, from complications of pneumonia.

Mrs. Vilar had been celebrating Easter vacation with her husband, Manuel Vilar, three of her grandchildren — Manny, James, and Thomas — and her daughter-in-law, Christine Stark-Vilar. The night prior to returning to the States she experienced difficulty breathing and was admitted to the Dom Pedro Infante Hospital Aveiro Portugal. She was 85 years old when she passed away and was to celebrate her 86th birthday on May 27.

Amelia Vilar was born in Jamaica, Queens, in 1933 to Monica Eninger and Frank Branco. She was the middle child of three. She had an older sister, Ana Bartoller, and a younger brother, Frank Branco, who both predeceased her.

Amelia met the love of her life, Manuel Joaquim Da Silva Vilar, in 1956 at a friend’s backyard barbecue after he returned from a three-year stint supervising construction projects in Quebec, Canada. On June 3, 1957, they were married in Passaic, NJ and shared their passions for their family, life, gardening, making wine and fishing together for the past 62 years.

They have one son, Manuel (Manny) Marques Vilar, also of East Hampton. After staying home to raise her son, she also was involved in various charity work. Amelia went back to work as a cashier at Bohacks in both East Hampton and Mineola. When Bohacks closed, Amelia took on a managerial position in Nassau Hospital’s food services division. Additionally, as a side business, Amelia and her husband would renovate and flip homes, and in 1965, they purchased land in the Clearwater Beach section of Springs, and built their Springs home where they spent a lot of their time in between their homes in East Hampton, Mineola, Florida, and Portugal.

Amelia was an ardent gardener and outdoors person. She loved her flowers and vegetable garden, regularly giving away vegetables to family and friends. In addition to gardening, she loved to make homemade jams, jellies, and tomato sauce. She also loved fishing with her husband and family. She could be regularly found on the boat, pole in hand.

Amelia loved her close-knit family, making it a point to be integrally involved in the lives of all six of her grandchildren. She leaves behind her husband, Manuel Joaquim Da Silva Vilar, her son, Manuel Marques Vilar, daughter-in-law, Christine Stark-Vilar, and her six grandchildren, Matthew Gosman Vilar, Brendan Graham Gosman Vilar, Catherine Elizabeth Curti, Manuel Joaquim Marques Vilar, James Frances Stark Vilar and Thomas Vincent Marques Vilar.

Services were held at Most Holy Trinity in East Hampton on May 23, followed by a burial at Most Holy Trinity cemetery. A celebration of her life followed at Springs Fire Department in East Hampton.