Ilona M. Vaeth

Ilona Margaret Vaeth, 89, of Saugerties,  passed away peacefully at home, on January 15, 2021, after an extended illness. A first generation German-American, Ilona was born April 8, 1931, in Queens, NY, to Anna and Emil Goettel. She graduated from Richmond Hill High School in 1948, and began working at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York City. She married Robert Vaeth on December 17, 1955, and relocated to Saugerties, NY, in 1959, where she lived the remainder of her life. Ilona stayed home with her children while they were young, and later returned to the workforce, first as a key punch operator at IBM and then back to Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, where she worked until retiring in 1991. Ilona won a table tennis competition her youth, played piano and was a talented knitter who taught a knitting class and gifted her loved ones with many knitted works of art. She enjoyed lunch with friends at the Saugerties Senior Center and was a member of the Saugerties Community Chorus. She loved traveling, especially to Lake Placid, which she visited annually for many years, movies, eating out, crossword puzzles, and was a voracious reader. She will be remembered by those who knew her for her wicked sense of humor, being chronically late, but always impeccably dressed, coiffed and made up. She was predeceased by her husband, Robert, and brother, Willi. She leaves behind daughters Lori Pruden (Gary) and Lynda Ma (Oscar), grandchildren Keith Pruden (Heather), Alicia O'Connell (Owen), Amanda Quinn (Maegan) and Emily Pruden (Michaela Fiato) and great-grandchildren Catch and Cricket Pruden, Carter O'Brien and Charlotte O'Connell.

Her Funeral Service will be held 11:00 AM Tuesday at the Seamon-Wilsey Funeral Home, Inc. Cor. of John & Lafayette Sts. Saugerties.  Interment will follow in Blue Mt. Cemetery.  Friends will be received Monday 2-4 and 7-9 PM.  Face coverings and social distancing rules to be observed.  Further Obituary information and condolences may be shared with Ilona's family @SeamonWilseyFuneralHome.com

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