Edwina M. Malone Proper dies at 79

Mass will be offered Wednesday at the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in Westhampton Beach for Edwina M. Malone Proper, 79, of Westhampton Beach, who died peacefully, surrounded by her husband and children, on Sept. 2.

"She was an amazing woman," said her son, James Malone, of Hampton Bays, who is a member of the Southampton Town Board. "She instilled in each of us the value of family. She lived for her holiday dinners and birthday parties. She was true Irish stock . . . a great lady."

Proper, born in Brooklyn in 1932, grew up during World War II and was raised by her mother, grandmother and extended family. In the early 1950s, she married James Malone. The couple had several children, whom Proper raised alone after they divorced, according to James Malone.

Before she married, she had known her second husband, Lane Proper, because he lived in a room in a Brooklyn boardinghouse run by family. Though they occasionally dated, the two went their separate ways, and each raised their own families.

After her daughter's divorce, her mother reintroduced them, and they wed 40 years ago. After they married, the family moved to Westhampton Beach in the early 1970s and opened the Bamboo Restaurant.

Proper, known as "Mickey" to friends and family, died of complications of congestive heart failure.

In addition to her husband and son, Proper is survived by sons Michael Proper of Westchester; Raymond Malone of Miller Place; William Malone of Eastport and Michael Malone of Southampton; daughters Donna DeLucia of Rocky Point; JoAnn (Coretti) Malone of Pennsylvania; and Debi Malone of Aquebogue.

Funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, followed by interment at St. Isidore's Cemetery in Baiting Hollow.