Frances Alaimo

Frances “Fran” Alaimo died April 4 at her home in Jamesport after a month of battling cancer. She was 90 years old.

She was born Nov. 28, 1922, to Frank and Anna (Lohr) Kreitsek in Astoria, Queens.

She attended P.S. 126 from first through eighth grade and graduated from Bryant High School in Astoria, after which she worked at the Bulova watch company for five years. Paramount Studios was located a few blocks from her home, and one of her first memories was being cast as an extra in a movie, according to family members.

After leaving Bulova, she joined her parents at their family bungalow in South Jamesport, where she met and married a local farmer, Philip Swotkewicz. For 25 years she lived on the 40-acre farm on Herricks Lane in Jamesport, where she cut potatoes, tied cauliflower, drove all the farm vehicles, and tended to the animals. She remarried and moved to Holbrook, where she resided for the next 25 years.

After her husband died she moved back to Jamesport to be close to her family and built a home adjacent to The Golden Earthworm Organic Farm, owned by her son Philip, where she had worked for the past 15 years. She cut potatoes in the fall, and in the summer she picked strawberries and worked at the small farm stand located inside the barn. Family members said she knew everyone who walked through the door.

Her favorite pastimes were doting on her grand- and great-grandchildren, working in her garden and caring for her Pomeranian, “Sunny,” according to family members. Summer was her favorite season. She was an avid swimmer and enjoyed clamming and walking the beach at Simmons Point, they said.

Predeceased by her former husband, Philip Swotkewicz, her husband, Carmine Alaimo, and her son Joseph Swotkewicz, she is survived by her sons Philip and Frank Swotkewicz; her sisters, Dorothy Meagher and Grace Paladino; six grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements were handled by Reginald H. Tuthill Funeral Home in Riverhead.

Donations may be made to East End Hospice.

This is a paid notice.