Physical therapy (PT)

Dorothy attended Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, VA, where she studied music theory and sciences. She later studied for her master's degree in physical therapy at the University of Buffalo (SUNYAB) and helped faculty develop this new professional program. Later in her career, she returned to UB to teach PT as the Director of Clinical Practice.

Her PT specialty was working with unresponsive young children. 

One of her great successes occurred early in her career:

While making only $50 a month as a physical therapist at the Children's Hospital in Buffalo, during the polio epidemic in the mid-1940s, Dorothy had a 3-year-old polio patient named Albert. He was very frail, and not responding to anything the doctors could offer. One day his doctor told Albert's patients that, unfortunately, there was nothing more they could do for him, and recommended taking him home. Following this, Dorothy's supervisor told her that she would no longer have Albert on her treatment list because she said that in the time Dorothy was treating Albert, she could be treating three other needy patients.

Being undeterred, Dorothy agreed, but she realized she could spend her private time on evenings and weekends continuing to treat Albert in his home! Albert's parents agreed, and Dorothy continued giving him the best care she could at his home.

Dorothy was always interested in gaining more knowledge so she could give the best care to the most needy people. She applied to be on staff at the well-known Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, in Warm Springs, Georgia, where President FDR went for therapy. Upon arrival there, she learned that she had qualified for a scholarship to bring one of her former polio patients to the Institute for free treatment. So, she contacted Albert's parents, and they agreed! They carefully transported him in their car to Georgia for the free, first-rate care and therapy he dearly needed!

Fast-forward to 9-14-2019--my sister hosted a 100th birthday party for Dorothy, and there I got to meet Albert and his family! 75 + years later, Albert had been rehabilitated and owed his life to Dorothy! He has lived a very long and productive life--in great part due to Dorothy! He and his family also showed up at Dorothy's home when she turned 103. 

We were pleased to see Al and his family at Dorothy's memorial service at Temple Beth Zion on 12-12-2022.

Please see this story and other inspiring "Dorothy" stories from this service on a video by clicking  here.  

PS When we asked Dorothy how she wanted to be remembered, she simply said, "As a physical therapist." So, we included "Physical Therapist" on her tombstone.   :)

Below are remembrances of Dorothy from fellow Buffalo Recorder Society musician, Janet Ryan.: 9-17-2024:

Dorothy’s recorders continue to have many adventures! Besides being played regularly at Buffalo Recorder Society and with Dorothy’s friends, other places they have recently been played at include: a park by the Niagara River (we live 2 blocks away), at a Native American Independence Day celebration/picnic that we were invited to by Native American friends, and in the 300+ year old French Castle’s chapel room at Old Fort Niagara (where I do historical reenacting; I am in the fife and drum corps). 

Last Thursday I brought her soprano recorder to a stringed instrument group  I sometimes informally play with (the word is “jam” in this genre of music; for we classical musicians, “jam” is something to spread on toast in the morning). They do some Celtic music there, and the recorder was appropriate for it. People who had been unfamiliar with that instrument were complimentary of its sound, and I am always pleased when we can score points for the recorder as a serious and pretty instrument, as many people unfortunately just assume that it’s merely a starter instrument for kids. Not so- as JS Bach (and Dorothy) could tell them! 

When people admire the recorders I always honor Dorothy by saying who they were, and by telling the people about the amazing music friend I had who played music til age 103, drove a car til over 100 years of age, kept goats, built a house, helped neighbors, raised dogs, etc. - and the list could go on for pages. People are always so impressed to hear about her life, and I am glad to share these things, as your aunt was most definitely an inspirational lady and one who did much good. I will let you know of any further unique and interesting adventures that the recorder family in my possession have! 

The young man from our church who is a graduate of the classical piano performance program at UB told me recently that he is really enjoying learning to play the lovely alto recorder of Dorothy’s that I gave to him (as there were multiple ones of that voice). William is a nice person and is a stellar pianist, and I know Dorothy would be pleased to have one of her recorders belonging to him and continuing to make music. I do so appreciate you allowing me to have these wonderful instruments, and I greatly value them! Thank you again!

 Sincerely,

 Janet

PS  Janet, it was Dorothy's desire that you should be the custodian and home-finder for her precious recorders!  :)

Ultimate humanitarian and friend

One of Dorothy's best friends, and upstairs tenant, was Alice Sprague.  The two of them did many things together.

When Alice developed terminal cancer, Dorothy gave her the option of spending the remainder of her time in a hospice, in her apartment, or at Dorothy's somewhat remote house in the woods, in Ashford Hollow, NY. Alice picked the house in Gypsy Woods.

Being Dorothy, she didn't hesitate to offer Alice hospice care at Gypsy Woods, which is located ten miles from the nearest hospice or drug store on highway 219 between Springville and Ellicottville, south of Buffalo, NY.

How to offer needed care? Dorothy had no hospice training, but being an experienced physical therapist, she convinced people at the closest hospice to train her so she could take proper care of Alice. (They would not normally have done this.)

So, for over a year, Dorothy provided 24-hour-a-day, single-handed care for Alice--having to take care of all her bodily needs as her health declined and faculties deteriorated over time. At night, in colder weather, Dorothy had to get up every two hours to add wood to the fireplace, because the house she built had no central heating. Year-round, Alice had to be rotated frequently in her bed as well. When worrisome events  occurred, Dorothy phoned the hospice for instructions and advice in helping Alice.

After Alice's peaceful ending, I asked Dorothy how she had the emotional and physical strength to serve her friend in this selfless and demanding undertaking. Dorothy looked down at the floor and softly said, "I'd do the same for any friend." 

---

When another close friend, Shirley, needed a kidney transplant, Dorothy offered to be the donor.  At that time Dorothy was already over 90, so the doctors would not allow it.  She  literally would do anything for any friend!

Sweet tooth

Like her mother, Dorothy had a sweet tooth. Whenever my sister and I visited them at 333 Ashland, once in the door, we made a beeline for the candy drawer in the dining room. 😁

Dorothy's favorite place for soft-serve was Carvel. She would get a regular vanilla cone, and always a small vanilla cup for her favorite doggie! -- Craig

Halloween at 333

Every child in Dorothy's neighborhood knew that 333 Ashland Avenue was the best place to go Trick-or-treating. In the old days, costumed children were joyously greeted at the door and invited in for a cup of cider and a full doughnut. If they were collecting for UNICEF, they each received a crisp new $1 bill. Then, when they left, they could select a full-sized candy bar of their choice from the baby grand piano in the living room. No wonder some of them tried to come back a second time later on.  😀

More remembrances of Dorothy

Welsh friends

From Wayne, Diane, and Jenny Harbert:

The nametags that the hundred and some guests sported at Dorothy’s 100th birthday party listed which of her diverse circles of friends we belonged to. There were Corgi Friends, Goat Friends, Recorder Friends, and Tai Chi Friends, to name a few. We—Diane and Wayne—were “Welsh Friends”. And indeed our friendship started with a shared interest in Welsh. Wayne first met Dorothy, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 1992, as a fellow student on one of the intensive summer Welsh courses organized by Cymdeithas Madog, and we met again on one or two CM courses in subsequent summers. Dorothy, back then, was about the age that we are now. Our friendship really took root a decade later, though, beginning with a concerned phone call from Mel Palmer, a mutual friend from those Welsh courses. It seems that Dorothy had made an early morning appointment for her ailing goat Earl, at Cornell’s highly regarded veterinary school. Dorothy, ever gallant in her care for her goats (as she was for her other friends), proposed to drive the three hours from West Valley to Ithaca and spend the night with Earl in her car, in the parking lot of the Vet School, to keep that appointment. Mel got wind of that plan, and, knowing that we lived close to Cornell and worried about Dorothy’s safety and comfort, called us to ask if we would give Dorothy a call and casually suggest that she stay with us. Knowing Dorothy’s fierce independence, though, Mel suggested that we frame the suggestion in a way that made it sound as if Dorothy would be doing us a favor. So, we crafted our argument carefully, pointing out that our daughter’s room had been empty since she went off to college, that we would enjoy someone staying in it, and that we would be glad of her company. After a few minutes of persuasion, she was diverted from her plan to a point; she would drive to our house, and she and Earl would spend the night in their car, parked in our driveway. After she got here, we pressed our case further, and eventually she agreed to making use of Jenny’s room. Earl would sleep in the car. Finally, we succeeded in convincing her that Earl would be happier in the comfort of our laundry room, and that it would be no inconvenience at all. Everyone ended up staying indoors. Before going home, Dorothy insisted on taking us out to dinner.

This was the first time Diane met Dorothy. In the following two decades, through a few mutual visits a year, and myriad letters and phone calls,

Dorothy became one of our dearest, most admired friends. (Admired seems too weak a word; if the truth be told, we were in awe of her.)

She drove down to Ithaca several times. On a couple of these visits, her nephew Yale accompanied her. One particularly extraordinary visit, though, looms among our treasured memories. We had mentioned to Dorothy that Wayne’s mother was coming to visit. Mom had had a stroke a couple of years back that had left her without use of her left arm and leg. Dorothy (who was the oldest licensed physical therapist in New York State) approached her profession with fierce determination, and she was chomping at the bit to come down and share her ideas for therapies and exercises that Mom might find useful. And so she did, even though she herself had fallen in her goat barn a few weeks before the visit, breaking her shoulder and three ribs, and had to drive to Ithaca and back (eight hours round trip) with one hand—and some pain. (There was no saying “no” to Dorothy.) Her long conversation with Mom was eye-opening; she was overflowing with ideas, and Mom came away with new resolve, direction and hope. When we asked Dorothy how we could ever repay her, she mentioned that she had noticed a sign for an apple orchard near us, and asked if we might pick a basket of Northern Spy apples for her. We did so gratefully.

And we in turn dropped in on her several times over the next couple of decades, dining in Ellicottville, exploring the Griffis Sculpture park, and most memorably, reveling in the magic of Gypsy Woods. We attended several of the legendary Welsh Lamb Roasts she hosted each August, at which we came to know many in her circle of “Welsh friends”—Shirley, Susan and Richard, Marjie and Dave, Sally, Barbara, Ester, Ruth, Norah, Bob, Karen and many others. Mel was among the regular attendees. We hung around for a while after these get-togethers, after the others had gone home. “To help you clean up”, we said, but it was mostly because we found it hard to leave. And she never let us leave empty-handed. She always insisted that we take leftover lamb, or pick some of the berries that grew in profusion along the driveway, or sun-gold cherry tomatoes, of which she was a great fan. (We still grow them at our house in her honor, and because they’re very, very tasty.)

There were other visits to Gypsy Woods in between. Once, just before her 100th birthday, Barbara, Susan, Diane and Wayne sat spell-bound in the pavilion while Dorothy guided us through her cherished family album and told us the vividly remembered stories of the people from her childhood. At another—our last visit to her magical homestead, just a month before she moved to town—we had a picnic with her and Gretchen, and listened to the story of how she built her barn—another remarkable story from an epic life.

We kept up a lively correspondence while we were waiting out the pandemic. Wayne wrote her a letter every few weeks, and enclosed a few pictures or some little gift that our daughter Jenny had brought from Guatemala for us to give to her. (Dorothy and Jenny never actually met, since Jenny lives most of her life abroad, but they became fast friends nonetheless—even Facebook friends—and talked on the phone when they had a chance.) Every time she got one of our letters, Dorothy immediately called to thank us, and we ended up on the phone with her for at least an hour, enjoying still more of her bottomless trove of stories. If we hadn’t heard from her for a couple of weeks, Diane would give her a call. The two of them came to be particularly close friends.

After Dorothy left Gypsy Woods, we were fortunate to be able to visit her a couple of times at her house in Buffalo—the same house that she had lived in as an infant and beyond. In the spring of her 102nd year, we had brunch with her and Sally at “The Place” next door, where we learned that Dorothy was regarded as local royalty. And we joined her there again for lunch with friends in celebration of the beginning of her 103rd year. (Siân, who organized this celebration, had tried to arrange it on Dorothy’s actual birthday, but it seems that her ever-full social calendar had no vacancies until the following week.) After the restaurant, we would retire next door to the porch of Dorothy’s house for a pleasant chat.

In Welsh, the phrase "dod yn ôl at fy nghoed"(literally, ‘to come back to my woods’) expresses something like ‘to return to a state of spiritual balance and mental quietude’. Sitting there with her, her loving companion Bella in her arms, listening to her stories, taking delight in her prodigious memory, wisdom, wit, practicality, and compassion, it was unimaginable that Dorothy would ever have need for such an expression. Always, even when she moved to town, she brought her woods with her, and in her presence she made you feel somehow as if you were resting in the shade of them.

In our last visits, Dorothy’s conversation turned repeatedly to the theme of gratitude—for Bella and her other treasured and pampered pets, for her life, for her health, her autonomy, and above all for her many friends. We are so very grateful to have been numbered among them.

Goats

I'm Pete Snyder and I've been involved with the Niagara Frontier Dairy Goat Association since its founding in the early 70's.  I breed, raise and show my dairy goats that I raise on my farm in Cowlesville, NY.

Our group first met Dorothy when she started attending our club meetings in 2009 as we were preparing to host the American Dairy Goat Association's annual week-long convention at the Adam's Mark hotel in downtown Buffalo in October of 2009.  We all became endeared to Dorothy and her sweet personality as she became so helpful with many aspects  of our convention planning and the actual convention itself.  Many people who attended from all around the country got to know Dorothy that week as she assisted with many of the "little things" that needed to be taken care of as well as being the authority on the local attractions, restaurants, stores etc. in the area.  I heard recently from someone who attended that she had taken a group to Niagara Falls that week to show them that area.

Since then, Dorothy became a devoted member of our group and attended many of our meetings.  We looked forward to and always enjoyed having her around.  Her sharp wit and wonderful stories and memories were always something we looked forward to. She always made sure that we scheduled a picnic at her home in West Valley each summer...............which of course we all looked forward to.  Sitting around the pavilion next to her pond with her little log goat barn in the back, we had our meeting and always enjoyed a wonderful picnic.  Then we sat around talking and listening to Dorothy share her memories and tell stories.  Many times after everyone else had left I'd stay around and enjoy sitting there next to the pond and visiting with her for another hour or two.  She always was excited to have us there every summer.

2019 was her 100th birthday and I was invited to her official birthday party.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend and, boy, did I hear about it from her everytime I saw her afterwards!!  Hahaha.  We celebrated her birthday at one of our club meetings though and were so happy to be able to do so.

For many years Dorothy raised Toggenburg goats..............a breed originally from Switzerland that are brown in color with white markings.  She enjoyed their milk and always told us stories of others with milk allergies that showed improved health when she shared her goats' milk with them.  She was always so proud of that being able to help others.  More recently she "borrowed" a few smaller miniature goats every summer while she stayed at Gypsy Woods and then returned them in the fall before returning to the city for the winter.  She loved having the goats and a few chickens to keep her amused every summer.

We all truly enjoyed Dorothy and the wonderful times we all shared.  We were shocked to hear of her passing but will always have all these wonderful memories of her.  Thank you Craig for sharing some of her goat-related collectibles and photos with us.  The last time I saw her was a few months before her passing.  I was in her area and decided to pop in for a quick visit.  She invited me to have lunch with her at "The Place"...............the restaurant right next door to her house where she entertained many of her friends.  She talked about the history of the restaurant and of the times during the prohibition years where many scandalous things happened!  I'm glad I was able to spend that short time with her.

Dorothy's "special sauce"

Dorothy enjoyed trying new things.

In November 1975, she asked me (as a newly certified Transcendental Meditation (TM) instructor) to teach her the Transcendental Meditation® technique, which she very much enjoyed and privately practiced for the rest of her life. On her 100th birthday in 2019, she and I meditated together at my sister's house. When the meditation ended I observed a softness and serenity on her face--like she was glowing. She then leaned over to me, put her arms around me and quietly said, "You know, I think TM is the reason I have lived this long!" If you want to learn more click here. -- Craig