The East End lost a treasure this week when longtime weatherman Richard Hendrickson died Jan. 9 at Westhampton Care Center. He was 103 years old.
A resident of Bridgehampton, Hendrickson was deeply devoted to the weather, performing his duties for decades, and enjoyed sharing stories of days gone by, including memories of the '38 hurricane.
In 2012, New York State Congressman Fred Thiel Jr. and the Southampton Town Board presented Hendrickson with proclamations to recognize his legacy of service and his 100th birthday.
Hendrickson bought two acres on Lumber Lane for $500 in 1935 and ran a poultry farm, which hatches 2,000 chicks each spring. He sold the farm several years ago and built his next home on an adjacent property. But in addition to being a retired poultry farmer, Hendrickson has long been known on the East End for his decades as a cooperative weather watcher.
From his home weather station, Hendrickson has been recording the weather twice a day for the National Weather Service since 1930.
Local and national news sources have turned to Hendrickson for his expertise before and after major weather events for many years. After a severe snowstorm in December 2010 buried the East End, Patch turned to Hendrickson. He said based on his observations of wind speeds and snow accumulation, the storm failed to accurately qualify as a blizzard. And before Tropical Storm Irene hit Bridgehampton, a Wall Street Journal website shot a video of Hendrickson at his weather station and got his predictions.
In 2013, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration created a website to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the 1938 hurricane, “one of the most destructive and powerful hurricanes in recorded history,” the weather organization said.
The hurricane, known as the “Long Island Express,” slammed into the region, hit Long Island as a Category 3 storm and headed toward southern New England, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
Filled with damage photos, old film reels, news clippings, a timeline, a track map and a video interview with Hendrickson, who recalls living through the worst recorded storm in history, the site documents the hurricane's fury for a new generation.
Recalling the “Great New England Hurricane of 1938” in the video, Hendrickson described downed limbs, blowing leaves, roofs lifting off buildings and supporting timbers for houses being ripped from the ground.
“And it exploded. Then the first thing you know the chicken was gone,” he said. . . There were no trees left in the orchard.”
With winds of 47 miles per hour and winds in excess of 100 miles per hour, the hurricane created a devastating storm surge that decimated homes and communities, NOAA video shows.
Meteorologists David Stark, Lauren Nash, Joey Picca and Nancy Furbush created the site, which focuses on locations in the New York forecast area.
Stunning YouTube videos of rare storm footage captured a hurricane that killed hundreds, destroyed thousands of homes and left scores homeless, shaping the history and geography of Long Island as landfall formed. The storm, the video explains, resulted in billions of dollars in damage.
“But we lived through it. And you did every day the best you could, under the circumstances,” Hendrickson said.
Hendrickson's remarks on the day he was honored in Southampton focused on two main points: The lifestyle he knew in the East End as a young man was drying up and — based on more than 80 years of observations — he said with certainty that global warming was real.
Of farming, he said, “There's nothing better than working seven days a week with animals.” But, he added, “It's a way of life that's leaving us.”
He considered himself lucky to live on Long Island: “It's overcrowded in some places, but there's no place like it in the world.”
Visitation will be held at Brockett Funeral Home on Friday, January 22 from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. The funeral home is located at 203 Hampton Road in Southampton Village.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 23, at 11 a.m. at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, located at 2429 Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton. Burial will follow in Edgewood Cemetery in Bridgehampton.
Patch file photo of Richard Hendrickson being honored by the city council in 2012.
