Effie L. Dohany, 106, 41-year teacher at Grover Cleveland
May 20, 1903—June 1, 2009
Effie L. Dohany estimated that she taught about 8,000 children during her 41 years at Grover Cleveland High School.
In her business studies classroom, she aimed “to imbue her students with the skills by which they could get jobs and build business straight out of school for themselves and their families,” said her daughter, Gael.
Mrs. Dohany, of Kenmore, who at 106 was one of the area’s oldest people, died June 1 in Kenmore Mercy Hospital, Town of Tonawanda.
Born Effie Leonard in New Castle, Pa., she received her teaching degree from Indiana State Normal School. Rebuffing her father’s choice of a fiancee, she set out on a teaching career that took her to Utica, Slippery Rock, Pa., and Olean before she arrived in Buffalo in the early 1920s.
She taught at Hutchinson-Central High School before switching to Grover Cleveland in 1928. In addition to teaching business studies, she supervised production of the yearbook.
She was married for 69 years to Joseph Dohany, whom she met when both lived on North Street after she moved to Buffalo.
Mrs. Dohany retired from Grover Cleveland in 1969. A longtime member of the 20th Century Club, she wintered in Florida from 1976 to 2002. She supported medical education and elder care research.
Her husband died in 2002. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 11 a. m. Saturday in St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 1085 Englewood Ave., Town of Tonawanda.
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