Sophie Silverman died peacefully on May 6 at Windemere Nursing Home with her daughter and two devoted caregivers by her side. She was 102 years old.

She had visited the Vineyard since the early 1980s and moved here permanently in 2003, residing in Oak Bluffs and at Windemere for four and a half years.

Sophie was born in Boston in 1912 and was the youngest of five children of Nicholas and Irena Payshnick, who had immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s from near Izaslav, a city in the western part of Ukraine with many ethnic Russians. Sophie spoke Russian and her parents were founding members of the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Boston, established in 1910. Her worship at this church was the beginning of a life-long commitment to her Orthodox Christian faith, worship, and spiritual study which guided her actions and inspired how she wanted to live her life.

She graduated from Jamaica Plain High School in 1929 and went to work for the S.S. Pierce Company, where she was a bookkeeper and secretary. Sophie married Joseph Netishen in 1937 and moved to Springfield, where her two children were born in the early 1940s. In 1945 she returned to Boston to reside with her parents as a single mother with two children after her marriage ended. In addition to returning to work full time with two children, she also was a loving caregiver to her parents who both died in the late 1940s. She also lost her beloved son Phillip to meningitis during this same period.

In 1950 Sophie married Jacob Silverman of Quincy. They first resided in Rockland, and then designed and built two homes in Hingham. Sophie was a devoted homemaker and loved to cook, decorate, and entertain family and friends. She was also an excellent seamstress. She and her husband enjoyed traveling and made annual visits to Florida while also exploring the western part of the United States and visiting Europe. While at home in Massachusetts, she was a dedicated volunteer at the South Shore Hospital for over 40 years.

In 1978, Sophie lost her beloved husband and continued to live in Hingham until the late 1980s. In 1989 she decided that she was tired of cold and snowy New England winters and wanted to be able to walk year round. Her recipe for fitness and good health had been a daily early morning walk of one to two miles. She also had some good friends who had moved to northern California and she decided to sell her home and move west. She settled near Santa Rosa, Calif. and lived there for nearly 15 years.

At 90 years old Sophie moved to the Vineyard to be closer to her daughter Christine and son-in-law Richard Williams. She continued to live on her own with their support. She still walked — although shorter distances — and drove until she was 95 years old. She also benefitted greatly from the care of her physician Dr. Beth Donnelly and received support from the Vineyard Nursing Association, the Meals-on-Wheels program and two dedicated caregivers, Paula Martin and Susan Habekost, who helped care for her until the end of her life. She was a fiercely independent person and was determined to be on her own as long as she could.

During her nineties — after a lifetime of study, reflection, and worship in the Orthodox faith — she was consecrated as a nun and given the monastic name “Sophia” or “Mother Sophia.” Unfortunately, Sophie suffered a bad fall in 2010 which required a shoulder replacement and made it impossible to live on her own. She moved to Windemere in early 2011 and spent the rest of her life there benefitting from the efforts and support of Unit 3’s excellent staff.

Sophie was predeceased by her husband Jacob Silverman, her son Phillip Netishen, her parents, her sister Olga Riedl, and brothers Peter, John, and Walter Paige. She is the last survivor of her generation and outlived all her close friends.

She is survived by her daughter Christine and son-in-law Richard C. Williams of Chilmark, and granddaughter Sarah Standish and her husband Alex Standish and great-granddaughters Olivia and Anna Standish of Chesham, England. She is also survived by a number of loving nieces and nephews and their families.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend a requiem service at the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral, 165 Park Drive, Boston on Friday, May 15 at 11 a.m. Interment will be at St. Gregory of Sinai Monastery, 8252 Harrington Flat Road, Kelseyville, CA, 95451. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Sophie’s name to the above mentioned church or monastery, the general fund of Windemere Nursing and Rehab, PO Box 1747, Oak Bluffs MA, or a charity of your choice.

Arrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home, Oak Bluffs.