Ethel R Candrilli

Remembered for her charm and sense of style, longtime Dongan Hills resident Ethel R. Candrilli, 88, died on Friday at Hospital L'Hotel-Dieu de Quebec in Quebec City, Canada, while visiting the country on a vacation cruise.

She was born and raised Ethel Young in Dongan Hills, and graduated from New Dorp High School.

Mrs. Candrilli worked for 25 years for the New York Telephone Company, and retired as a supervisor in 1985.

After retirement, she split her time between Staten Island and the family vacation home in the Poconos, and then relocated to Sun City Center, Fla., in 1994.

"She was a very wise, beautiful, and charming woman, a lovely person, and a fabulous, elegant dresser," said her daughter, Missey Vitagliano. "She loved life, her family, traveling and dancing — that's what she was all about."

Mrs. Candrilli was an avid golfer, bridge player, and ballroom dancer, and enjoyed shopping and traveling. As a member of Mountain Manor Golf Club in Marshalls Creek, Pa., she famously hit a hole-in-one, family said.

Most recently, she traveled in the U.S. and abroad, and spent summers in Asheville, N.C., with Milton Tepas, her loving companion of 15 years, her daughter added.

On Staten Island, Mrs. Candrilli was a long-time parishioner at St. Ann's R.C. Church in Dongan Hills, and a member of its Mothers Club. She also belonged to the Staten Island Little League Ladies Auxiliary, Staten Island Ballroom Dancers, the Red Hat Society, and the New York Telephone Pioneers. In Florida, she was a member of the Sun City Center Golf Club, and women's and mixed bridge clubs.

Salvatore, her husband of 49 years, died in 1996. Her son, Donald, died in 2002.

In addition to her daughter, Missey, she is survived by two sons, Richard and Jerome; her sister, Elizabeth Golden; seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

The funeral is Friday from the Virginia Funeral Chapel in Dongan Hills, with a mass at 10 a.m. in St. Ann's Church. Burial will follow in Moravian Cemetery, New Dorp.