Roxanne Donnery
December 10, 1943—January 2, 2023
Highland Falls, NY
Roxanne Donnery, 79, of Highland Falls, NY, passed away peacefully on January 2, 2023 at the Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, NY, following a several-year battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Roxanne was born in Elmira, NY before the family relocated to Garnerville, NY. She attended St. Peters School in Haverstraw and was a graduate of Haverstraw High School, before attending college at the State University at Buffalo and graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz with a BS in Education. She also took graduate courses at New Paltz between 1975-1977. Donnery taught art for 17 years in the East Ramapo School District and two years at North Rockland High School in Theils, NY.
A lifelong advocate for education, Donnery was a board member for the Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District for 18 years and had served several times as President or Vice President of the board. Most recently, she served as a volunteer legislative liaison for the school district, in relation to Impact Aid, the federal funding provided annually as part of the school district’s education budget for local public schools. She was the founder of Roxanne interiors, an interior design and art business, starting in the 1980s. She and her husband James are owners of the bed and breakfast, Overlook on Hudson, an historic property overlooking the river, in Highland Falls.
She also served as Orange County Legislator, beginning in 1998, as a Democrat representing the 14th Legislative district for the towns of Highlands and Woodbury until 2013, including one year, as Chairman, in 2009, which occurred when a single Republican crossed party lines to support her, marking the first time a Democrat led the chamber in its 39-year history. In 2002 and 2010, she ran against Republican Nancy Calhoun for the New York State 96th Assembly District but lost both times. In 2013, Donnery decided to forgo running for her legislative seat, and instead ran against Republican Steve Neuhaus for Orange County Executive. Her loss to Neuhaus ended her political career.
Donnery’s legislative achievements included working to make substantial changes to improve the Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS) Law. She also helped to unite the legislature in their vote to re-examine the KJ Pipeline, the cost and the environmental impacts. She persisted in creating an investigatory committee in the legislature to the Valley View Center for Nursing Care and Rehabilitation, which resulted in keeping the center under control of Orange County and replacing its manager with a -more efficient manager and program. The $15 million deficit was erased in just three years. Donnery was lauded for her enormous commitment to saving Valley View.
She is survived by her husband of 59 years, James Donnery and their four children, Kim Espinoza of Highland Falls, Marie Muschek and her husband Richard of Madison, AL, Sean Donnery and his wife, Theresa of Sarasota, FL, and Emily Donnery of Land O Lakes, FL., brother John Roche of Middletown,NY and sister Jayme Roche Kulesz and her brother-in-law Bartholomew Kulesz of Land O Lakes, FL. She is also survived by eight grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, James and Martha Roche of Garnerville, NY and son-in-law Pedro Ponce Espinoza.
On Monday, January 9, there will be a Mass held at 10:00 am at Sacred Heart Church, 353 Main St, Highland Falls, followed by a luncheon at the Hotel Thayer, West Point at 11:30 am.
Memorial donations may be made to the Leukemia Foundation, www.leukemiarf.org
Arrangements are by William F. Hogan Funeral Home, (845) 446-2868 www.wfhoganfuneralhome.com
Philip H. Sickler
February 10, 1923—December 27, 2022
Highland Falls, NY
Philip H. Sickler, a resident of Highland Falls for 70 years, passed away peacefully on December 27, 2022. On February 10th of this year, he would have been 100 years old. Phil was the loving husband of Florence M. Sickler, to whom he had been married for 77 years. They lived in Leesburg, Virginia for the past six months.
Phil was born on February 10, 1923, in Gilboa, NY, to Freda (Draffen) and Philip C. Sickler. His family relocated to Stone Ridge, NY, when Phil was a teenager. It was not easy for him to leave his small hometown and attend the much larger Kingston High School. Little did he know then that he would meet a brown-eyed beauty who would make it all worthwhile. Phil met Flo at a church skating party, and they were together from that point on, getting engaged just prior to WWII.
Phil was inducted into the Army in March 1943 with several friends. They trained together at Fork Polk, LA. On the same day they were issued orders to ship out, he was notified that he had been selected for Officer Candidate School (OCS). Excited to fight with his buddies, he rejected the OCS offer and soon departed for the Philippines. Phil served in the 775th Tank Battalion as Tank Commander of a General Sherman tank dubbed “Copperhead.” His injury during the Battle of Luzon on June 28,1945 put an end to his fighting days. He never had a chance to say goodbye to his tank crew. The injury eventually resulted in a Purple Heart. After Phil spent several months in a field hospital, WWII abruptly ended. He was put on a hospital ship headed to San Francisco. On arrival, large crowds cheered, and bands played. Phil and other recovering soldiers were among the first to return home from the war, and they were treated as heroes. He was discharged on December 13, 1945. Phil wasted no time. Three days later, he married Florence Clark.
You can’t support a family without a job. Phil’s GI benefits enabled him to train to become a store manager, resulting in jobs at Kresge stores in Kingston and Newburgh. He eventually became the manager of the USMA Cadet Store at West Point. He held that position for 28 years before retiring in 1981 with 30 years of Civil Service. During this time, Phil did many other things, making him part of the fabric of “Hometown USA.” He was at various times a shoe store salesman, a bowling alley cashier, a treasurer at the Methodist Church, and the coach of a little league team.
Phil was also a sports enthusiast. He enjoyed watching basketball and football at the high school and college levels. He was a loyal fan of West Point Hockey. Phil and Flo had Army football season tickets for many years. Go Army! Phil rarely missed a Mets game, whether on radio, TV or the occasional visit to Shea Stadium. He belonged to a men’s bowling league. He could frequently be seen jogging around town and running in area 10K races (cheered on by Flo), placing in a few and always enjoying a cold beer at the end. When he wasn’t doing any of these things and the season was right, he could be found working in his flower beds and tending his lawn. His favorite pursuit, however, was tomato patch perfection. It was almost like a sport, involving an entire summer of training, pressure to produce results, and upright poles placed an exact distance apart.
While all these things kept Phil busy, he never failed to be a loving and caring husband to his wife and a supportive father to Steve, Barb, and Cathy. Phil is survived by his life-long love, his wife, Florence Sickler; daughter, Barbara Manzo, and her husband Joseph; Daughter-in-law, Beverly Sickler; grandchildren, Carin (Siemer) Taylor and her husband Matthew, Jennifer Sickler, Rebecca Siebelts, and Matthew Manzo and his wife Melissa; and three great-grandchildren, Abby Whittington, and Sasha and Raphael Manzo. Phil was preceded in death by his brothers, Bill and Jim; his son, Reverend Philip S. Sickler (Steve); and his daughter, Cathy Siemer. Friends and family will remember Phil by the example he set: Work hard. Be on time. Think before you speak. Don’t complain. Have fun. NEVER stop doing what you love. Mean it when you say “I do.”
Services will be scheduled at a later date. Donations in Phil’s memory may be made to the Hudson Valley Honor Flight (HVHF). This can be done either on the HVHF website (hvhonorflight.com) or by check payable to H.V.H.F (or Hudson Valley Honor Flight), mailing address: Hudson Valley Honor Flight, ATTN: Donations, P.O. Box 375, Walden, NY 12586 (Telephone #: 845-391-0076).