Obituaries

Regina Lee Sargent

Regina Lee Sargent, better known as “Gina Dizinno,” passed away on Feb. 6, 2023, in Haywood County, N.C., after a long battle with cancer. 

Regina was born on Jan. 16, 1949, at Southampton Hospital to Ova Lee Sargent and Alice Naber Sargent. Her sisters, Christine J. Sargent and Cheryl E. (Sargent) Obenstine, both predeceased her. Regina, the oldest of the three sisters, grew up on the family’s duck farm in Flanders, Long Island, N.Y. Her best friend, her cat “Blue,” also predeceased her by a couple of months and she will be joined with him at her mountainside home in Balsam, N.C.

Regina was raised primarily in “Huckabuck,” or Aquebogue, Town of Riverhead, N.Y., where the family had a waterfront home. 

Regina served as legislative aide to William “Doc” Myers in Tallahassee, Fla., where she proudly helped lead the first artificial reef project off the eastern coast of Florida, created by the sinking of the USS Rankin. She also helped begin the Sea Turtle Preservation Society in Florida.

She studied archaeology passionately at Stony Brook University and on-site in Egypt, and enjoyed reading, travel, food and the company of good friends. 

She will surely miss her days watching and documenting the birds and wildlife visiting her North Carolina home and riding her motorcycle on the Blue Ridge Highway.

Regina served on the Riverhead Town Zoning Board of Appeals and the public as an officer of the Southampton Town Police Department and Quogue Village Police Department.

Regina was a Republican and member of the NRA, Ducks Unlimited, American Legion and VFW.

Regina is survived by her nieces, Agena Rigdon Hoffmann and Altair Rigdon, and their children, Amanda, Corey and Abigail Hoffmann and Kieran and Karalyce Schwarz.

This is a paid notice.