Lorraine Tigh Dennerlein of Sullivanville, N.Y., died on Sept. 8 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She was 89.

She was born on April 21, 1927 in Los Angeles, Calif. Lorraine’s early years were spent on the West Coast with her parents, Harold and Constance Tigh, living in Seattle, Wash. and Berkeley and Pasadena, Calif. During World War II, she moved with her parents to White Plains, N.Y. and later studied at Western College of Ohio.

Lorraine met her husband to be, John Richard Dennerlein, in White Plains. They married and moved to Elmira, N.Y. in 1952. Lorraine and Richard subsequently settled on their farm in Sullivanville, N.Y., where she raised her five children, volunteered at their schools, tended her vegetable and flower gardens, and attended the Sullivanville United Methodist Church.

She spent summer vacations on Martha’s Vineyard and in recent years, she wintered in Austin, Tex. Lorraine’s love for the water started on the West Coast, where her father passed on his passion for sailing. Lorraine would join her father as he sailed his boats, including a Burgess P class yawl, on San Francisco Bay. A casual cocktail conversation resulted in a Vineyard connection when the White Compass on the boat led to an introduction to the White family and then stays on the Vineyard, the purchase of property and the subsequent building of a camp on the northeast side of Lake Tashmoo.

Summers on the Vineyard became a focal point for Lorraine’s family and she passed on her love of the water. She could often be seen overseeing her five children as they bobbed, splashed, ran and swam in the crystal clear waters of Vineyard Sound.

She and her husband Rich brought their ketch Aurora to Vineyard Haven, where she was moored in the inner harbor. In later years they switched to the more manageable Dyer 29 named the Dandelion. Lorraine’s love of the Vineyard and the water has been passed on to her five children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her last time on a sailboat was on her grandson’s Concordia Yawl, Phantom, in Tashmoo.

Lorraine loved to feed birds both at her home in upstate New York and on the Vineyard. Her Vineyard birdfeeders were visited by all the typical songbirds as well as the occasional squirrel and turkey. She loved to see the return and recovery of the osprey population. Lorraine kept her bird feeders in Horseheads, N.Y. filled, and they were always surrounded by many songbirds and on more than one occasion, bears.

She was predeceased by her husband of 57 years, John Richard; her brother Richard D. Tigh of White Plains, N.Y., and her parents, Harold and Constance Tigh of Essex, Conn.

She is survived by her sister, Sandra L. Peterson of Cherry Hill, N.J.; her daughter Janet Hobbs and her husband Carter of Lakeway, Tex.; her sons, John Dennerlein and his wife Mary Diffley of Westfield, N.J., James Christopher Dennerlein and his wife Helene Turner of North Babylon, N.Y., Jack Dennerlein and his husband Jeffrey Gonyeau of Dorchester, and Jesse Dennerlein of Clearwater, Fla.; her grandchildren, Allegra Frolow and her husband Ryan, Justin Hobbs, Joshua Dennerlein, Elizabeth Dennerlein, Jacob Dennerlein, Ryan Dennerlein, Haley Dennerlein, and Sydney Dennerlein; and her great-grandchildren, Carter and Felix Frolow.

A celebration of Lorraine’s life will be held at the Big Flats Community Center, 476 Maple Street in Big Flats, N.Y. on Saturday, Sept. 24, at 2 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Sullivanville United Methodist Church, 69 Old Sullivanville Road, Horseheads, N.Y. 14845; Big Flats Community Center, Town of Big Flats, 476 Maple St., Big Flats, NY 14814, or a charity of your choice.