Dr. Sara Lord Bodi Dies of Covid-19 at 92

Sara Lord Bodi, known as Sally, 92, survived Hurricane Sandy, only to be felled by another natural disaster, Covid-19.

In 2012, strong winds knocked out the electricity in the Bodi home in Glen Cove.  Her husband, Lewis J. Bodi, accidentally dropped a kerosene lantern he was lighting, and their house went up in flames. Sally tried to save her husband, but fire and smoke forced her out of the house. She survived, but Lew, a former provost at York College (CUNY), did not.

​Sally spent her remaining years in an assisted living facility in Dix Hills, and contracted Covid-19. She was sent to Huntington Hospital, where her son, Kip Bodi, is a doctor. Suited up in mask and protective covering, he visited her daily, whereas her daughters’ and her friends’ only contact was by phone.

Even toward the end, she told her daughters, “I’m not ready to give up the ship.” ​

She was descended from Pilgrims and pioneers. Raised in  Plano, Ill.,  as one of four daughters, Sally Lord was a cheerleader, sang in the choir, and was voted most popular in her high school class of 19 students. She met Lew Bodi, who hailed from Racine, Wisc., at Depauw University in Greencastle, Ind. Lew and Sally were married on April 9, 1950.

They were a study in opposites – Lew, the outgoing son of Hungarian immigrants, a liberal Democrat; Sally, the soft-spoken daughter of a doctor as well as a Mayflower descendant, a conservative Republican. Lew would say, “We dutifully vote every year, cancelling each other out at the polls.”

Sally attained her PhD in clinical psychology from St. John’s University while raising four children and became chief school psychologist for the Glen Cove school system.

In retirement, she traced her genealogy. Sally created 12 binders full of letters, photographs, articles, and family trees, including a letter from a Civil War soldier and a newspaper article about an ancestor who homesteaded in Illinois, living with his family in a cave until he finished building a house. 

Sally is survived by her 96-year-old sister Emily Lord Leyshon of Prescott, AZ, son Kip Bodi and wife Chris Bodi of Cold Spring Harbor, NY and; daughters Sari Bodi and husband Eric Montgomery of Westport, CT; Betsy Bodi Thomas and husband Philip Thomas of Dallas, TX; and Nancy Bodi-Hurley and husband Michael Hurley of Northport.  She is also survived by 11 grandchildren, and their spouses and children; Kip Bodi with wife Sara and children Lucy, Beatrice, and Kira Bodi: Stephanie Bodi and Matt Bernier and their daughter Mae Bernier; Caroline Bodi and Matt Winn expecting their first child in June; Jenny and Brett Bodi; Ming and Luke Montgomery; Bennett and wife Caitlin Thomas, Weston Thomas, Morgan and Tim Essig with their daughter Zoe, and Emma Hurley. Sally is also the step-grandmother to Sara and Scott Silverman and step-grandmother to Scott’s daughter Sophia.

This obituary was drawn from the website of the M.A. Connell Funeral Home.

 

Dr. Alfred V. Sforza, 1939-2020

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