Longtime Massapequa homemaker Bernice “Bessie” Deane died Dec. 24, 2009 in West Islip. She was 105 years old and dedicated her life to caring for her home and family.

Born in Flushing, Queens she had worked at New York Telephone while in her 20s. She spent her life caring for her family on Suffolk Road in the Nassau Shores area of Massapequa, where she lived for more than 40 years. In 2000, she moved to Our Lady of Consolation Nursing Care Center in West Islip.

Mrs. Deane was a music lover who was active in the senior citizens club and loved to spend time with family and friends.

She leaves behind her children, Eleanor Best and her husband Richard of Maine and Bernice Codella of Massapequa. Her grandchildren, James E. Fowler, Richard Best, Kathleen Gillman, Helen Marie Graves, Catherine B. Ruwwe and Christine V. Comish, and her great grandchildren, Patrick and William Fowler, Hannah and Benjamin Graves and James Everett Ruwwe also survive her. She was predeceased by her husband William in 1985, and her daughter Mary Elaine Comish.

Mrs. Deane reposed at the Massapequa Funeral Home, Massapequa Park, Dec. 28, 2009. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Dec. 29, 2009 at St. Martin of Tours R.C. Church, Amityville. Interment followed at St. Charles Cemetery.