Veteran nurse wins Oppy Award

March 17, 2009

Star-Gazette

Denise Puffer threw her head back and laughed when she learned Monday morning that she was the recipient of the annual Oppy Award at St. Joseph's Hospital in Elmira.

"I'm very shocked," said Denise, a registered nurse at the hospital since 1991. "Happy, but shocked."

The award is given each year to a hospital staff member or volunteer who provides friendly service, courtesy and good will to all they come in contact with. It gets its name from the committee that chooses the winner, the Operation: People Committee.

It's one of the hospital's best-kept secrets. Only a few employees have access to the privileged information of who the winner is.

If Denise was shocked to win the award, you should have seen her face when she learned that her husband, Scott Puffer, who works in the facility Engineering Department at St. Joseph's, knew for a full week that his wife was going to receive the award and never mentioned it.

"You knew," she asked with a wide-eyed expression, "and you never said a word?"

Scott nodded and smiled.

"It was really hard this morning," Scott said Monday. "She definitely deserved this award."

Denise began her career at St. Joseph's the same year Strike the Gold won the Kentucky Derby, said Denis Sweeney, the hospital's director of marketing and community relations.

Looks like the hospital struck gold, too.

"Denise is a very dedicated nurse who is always willing to help her fellow employees with a smile on her face and without hesitation. Her dignified, compassionate, professional manner truly exemplifies the mission of St. Joseph's Hospital," Denis said. "Denise cheerfully assists other staff members without having to be asked. She is kind to patients, co-workers, physicians, hospital employees and visitors."

Denise is also humble and modest. She gets embarrassed if you point out her good deeds. It's just part of the job, she'll tell you.

"I do get great satisfaction from helping people when they're sick," Denise said. "I like to be the giver, not the receiver."

Denise knew at the tender age of 18 she wanted to be a nurse, in part because the profession had always been a dream of her mother's.

She's also attending classes at Keuka College to earn her bachelor's degree in nursing.

"I started that many years ago and always felt I needed to finish it," Denise said.

Denise and Scott live in Horseheads. They have four children, Ryan and Christopher Mantz and Jillian and Justin Puffer.

Denise's picture will be on permanent display in the St. Joe's dining room along with those of previous Oppy winners.

Robert M. Schrier, 77

Robert M. Schrier, 77, of 210 N. Elmer Ave., Sayre, passed away at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre on July 5, 2005.

Born July 20, 1927 in Athens, he was the son of the late William and Mary Hunt Schrier.

He was a graduate of Athens High School, Lafayette College and received his master's degree from Bucknell University.

He taught English in Corning and Athens area high schools for a total of 33 years. He retired from teaching in 1984.

He was a former member of the Sayre Elks.

Surviving are: several nieces and nephews, William and Joann Lewis of East Smithfield, Linda Alteri of Sayre, Mary and Mike McMahon of Sayre, John Peckally of Elmira, N.Y., Victor Stannish of Nebraska and Robert Stannish of Long Island, N.Y.; close friends, Stephen and Julia Tubbs of South Waverly; and several great-nieces and great-nephews.

At Mr. Schrier's request, funeral services will be private with the Rev. David Martin, chaplain at Robert Packer Hospital, officiating.

Burial will take place in Tioga Point Cemetery in Athens.

Memorial donations may be made to any charity of one's choice in Mr. Schrier's memory.

Athens Area High School timetable still on the dot

The Daily Review

2/11/04

ATHENS - The construction project for Athens Area High School is just past the halfway marker and right on schedule.

According to Superintendent Doug Ulkins, the school will meet its completion date of Aug. 1 for renovations of the existing high school structure and the addition of a science and technology wing. A timetable to move administrative offices in by July 1 and a completion for the new gymnasium addition by Nov. 1 are also on schedule, Ulkins said.

"We are on schedule - the windows just arrived, the interior is going great," he said.
Inside the high school, wiring and piping are in place and walls are currently going up. Outside, the cinder block is being laid for the gymnasium.

Ulkins said there is enthusiasm and anticipation to make the move into the building next academic year.

"Mainly students and staff have expressed a lot of excitement," Ulkins said. He added one class of students in a Computer Assisted Design class, or CAD class, have been particularly interested. "The students have been touring the (construction) site and will have to justify why (the building) is built the way it is."

After this summer, Ulkins also mentioned there will be no more displacement and all students will return to their respective buildings.

"It's a huge inconvenience," Ulkins said about the displacement of students and staff from one building to another. "But the teachers have been very understanding - as have been students and parents."

The Athens High construction project is highlighted by the creation of an expanded curriculum, a more efficient and secure environment and a state of the art enhancement for almost all aspects of the students' learning experience.

Classrooms are being renovated to include fiber optic technology to allow access to cable, Internet and other audio/visual devices. Hallways and classrooms will be refurbished for improved energy efficiency and aesthetic quality.

The 26,000-square-foot science wing will allow for more cooperative work between curriculums utilizing shop classes, science labs and computer labs all in the same area. This portion of the building will also include an expanded library and a new media center for school radio and closed-circuit television.

The 22,000-square-foot addition of the gymnasium will have a capacity of approximately 1,500 and will include a trophy hallway to display the Wildcat collection of awards in athletics. A new access will also be added for security purposes that will open onto the area of the new football/soccer stadium with an all-weather track. The home stands will seat 2000; the visitor stands 500.

The Athens Area High School project is expected to cost $20.06 million and is one of the last -- and the largest -- renovation projects expected for the district.

The Evening Times

Business Briefs

A Naval Research Laboratory scientist has received an achievement award from The Technical Cooperation Program, an international consortium dedicated to fostering collaborative research efforts in defense science involving Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Gregory Nichols, an engineer in NRLs Tactical Electronic Warfare Division was cited for making a significant contribution in extending specific emitter identification capabilities to military radars with non-magnetron transmitters which represent the vast majority of modern radar designs. According to the citation, the teams success is the result of combining sound theoretical work to digital signal processing, contributions to the development of the underlying digital receiver architectures, and experimentation supported by multiple data collections and trials.

Nichols began work at NRL, WDC, in 1987. He is a project manager in NRLs Tactical Electronic Warfare Division. His research includes developing systems for radar processing: Specifc Emitter Identification using advanced techniques; design in high-speed digital logic circuits and Field Programmable Gate Arrays; and transitioning R&D technology to deployed systems on U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels.

An Athens High School graduate, Nichols graduated from Lehigh University in 1987 with a degree in computer engineering. He has received the NRL Technology Award (1997) and an NRL Special Art Award for transitioning SEI technology to the Fleet (1998).

Nichols, his wife and two sons reside in Alexandria, Va. He is the son of Fred and Evelyn Nichols of Sayre.

Waverly Opera House to host production of 'Dear World' throughout October

October 3, 2003

WAVERLY -- She has been labeled as "not quite right in her mind," but the countess sees through a corporate scheme to destroy the city of Paris to get at crude oil beneath it, and she is willing to fight to keep it from bearing fruit.

That is the premise of "Dear World," a two-act musical comedy that opens Friday night at the Waverly Opera House at 324 Broad St. The play is adapted from Frenchman Jean Giraudoux's "The Mad Woman of Chaillot," which was written during the German occupation of the city in the 1940s.

The role of the countess, around whom the play's events unfold, is played by Kay (Horton) Bennett of Sayre (pictured center), whom audiences may remember as Sister Amnesia from "Nunsense," the musical comedy that officially opened the doors of the opera house as a cultural center in the Valley June 20, and marked the local directoral debut of John J. Koons of Waverly, son of Waverly Village Justice Richard Koons and founder of the Theatre Grove Company that is producing the play.

Of her leap upward into a lead role, Bennett commented during Wednesday night's dress rehearsal that it has been a "wonderful experience for me, working with all these veteran actors and actresses."

Laura Orshaw's family is steeped in a rich tradition of bluegrass music. Like her grandmother and her father before her, Orshaw has used music as a way to express herself; and she prefers using the fiddle to do it.

"My dad was 15 when he started playing the guitar and my grandmother always played the guitar and mandolin," said Orshaw. "When I was eight, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother so I of learned to play chords on the mandolin and guitar from her. When I was 10 I decided that I wanted to play the violin."

Laura Orshaw said that it was a natural gravitation to the fiddle. Being around music for half of her young life, either with her family at home or touring at bluegrass festivals with her father's band, Laura Orshaw began to develop a real affinity with the sounds of the fiddle.

"I had seen all the instruments but really liked the fiddle most of all," said Laura Orshaw.

Now a freshman at Athens Area High School has finally put her music talents on CD. This summer, with the help of her father, Mark Orshaw, the two released their first album, entitled "The Grizzly Bear Chair."

The CD is loaded with 18 tracks that sample both Laura Orshaw's talents, as well as those of her father who accompanies on the guitar and mandolin. Two of the tracks, including the title track are original creations of the Orshaws.

What's amazing about the album is that none of the tracks have been mixed or re-dubbed. As you listen to the CD, since there is no audio editing, each track brings about the original and unfiltered sound of two skilled musician playing at their height of their talents.

"We performed it all in a couple of hours," said Laura Orshaw. "We didn't want to put a lot of revising or anything like that into it. It was made to sound just like we were sitting at home playing the music."

Unlike most young girls her age, who are obsessed with the prepackaged sounds of pop boy bands, Laura Orshaw finds more music sustenance in the musical talents of people like Bill Monroe, who is seen as the father of the genre.

As Laura Orshaw herself explained, bluegrass is a combination of many diverse musical forms. It's a mix of everything from old-time country to African-American gospel to jazz. It's basically an all-American form of music.

"I don't know why but I've just never like pop music," said Laura Orshaw, who says she has always favored the more real and hearty sounds of bluegrass.

Aside from her hectic school schedule, Laura Orshaw always makes time for her music. When she not traveling the music circuit in the summer or sitting at home playing music with her family, Laura Orshaw is giving lessons.

At first it was a little awkward teaching people older then herself, but Laura Orshaw said that it's all about passing on a great musical tradition. The more lessons she gave, it wasn't the person's age that mattered so much as they learned to love the music.

At 14, Laura Orshaw still has a long life ahead of her filled with many choices on how she can spend her time. One thing is certain however, she wants so much to always have room in her heart for music. "It's not something that you can make a lot of money at," said Laura Orshaw. "I'll definitely keep on eye on it as a hobby and I would like to keep giving lessons. I don't know, I'd like to tour with a band, which sounds like it would be a lot of fun. It all depends on what comes up."

Honored by 'The Legacy' ...

Jim's Marine and Travel, located at 302 S. Keystone Ave., in Sayre, was presented with an award of heartfelt appreciation Thursday by Joyce Hoagland, shown above, center, coordinator of the first "The Legacy -- A Link to the Future" and now president of the event's board, for their support, participation and dedication that helped to make the The Legacy a success.