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Greg M. Coury, 44, attorney, RHS 1976
Greg Muller Coury of Old Brookfield Road, Danbury, an attorney who grew up here and graduated from Ridgefield High School, died on Wednesday, Feb. 19, at his home. He was 44 years old.
Mr. Coury was born in Danbury on Feb. 28, 1958, a son of attorney Elie S. and Doris Muller Coury of Ridgefield.
He attended Ridgefield schools and graduated from Ridgefield High School with the Class of 1976. He had been active at St. Stephen’s Church and in its scouting program, and had attained the rank of Eagle Scout.
Mr. Coury received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from George Washington University and a master’s in business administration from the University of Connecticut. Later, he attended Western New England School of Law, where he received his juris doctorate.
In 1986, he was admitted to the Connecticut Bar and established his practice of law with his father.
He was a member of the Danbury Bar Association.
Besides his parents, Mr. Coury is survived by a brother, attorney Steven E. Coury of New York City.
A sister, Janice H. Lollie, died before him.
Private funeral services and interment took place in Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, N.Y.
Contributions in his memory may be made one’s favorite charity.
The Jowdy-Kane Funeral Home in Danbury was in charge of arrangements.
David Crossley, first assistant rector
The Rev. David E. Crossley, the first associate rector at St. Stephen’s Church here, died on Jan. 21 in Baltimore, Md., where he had been a rector for many years. He was 68 years old.
A native of Oakland, Calif., Mr. Crossley was born in 1934 and graduated from Witworth College in Spokane, Wash., majoring in English. He taught at a mission school near Santa Fe, N.M., for a year before enrolling at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1956.
He was ordained a presbyterian minister in 1959, and served churches in Larchmont and Port Chester, N.Y., and Bryn Mawr, Pa. While in Bryn Mawr, Mr. Crossley met an Episcopal chaplain from England who directed a campus ministry for students at Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore colleges. “David liked what he learned from this man and felt comfortable in the Episcopal church, so he decided to return to divinity school,” his wife, Florenz Stephenson Crossley, told The Baltimore Sun.
He attended the Church Divinity School of the Pacific at Berkeley, Calif., graduating in 1969. He became an Episcopal deacon the same year, and came to St. Stephen’s in July as a curate.
In 1970 at St. Stephen’s, he was ordained a priest.
“Mr. Crossley’s work with the church has been especially productive with the church school and the young people, and his relation with the entire parish has been one of warm acceptance,” wrote St. Stephen’s historian Robert F. Haight in 1975. “He and his wife gave impetus to the Saints and Sinners Club, which has helped the many newcomers to the parish get better acquainted with other members, and he founded the St. Anne Guild for the fellowship and Bible study for the young women of the parish.”
Mr. Crossley became associate rector, the parish’s first, on July 1, 1973.
“He was involved at St. Stephen’s at a time when there were a lot of young families moving into town,” said Ridgefielder Mary Ann Baldwin who with her husband, Randy, attended the funeral Saturday. “David and Flo brought a vibrance to the church that was wonderful and refreshing and made new people feel at home.”
She added that “people loved his sermons. They were very intellectual and challenged the listener to really give a great deal of thought to the points he was making.”
Mr. Crossley left Ridgefield in 1975 to become rector of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Roland Park, Md., just outside Baltimore.
“He was a very, very thoughtful and supportive person and highly respected in the diocese,” Randall S. Mullin, organist at St. David’s for 26 years, told The Sun.
When he was 32, Mr. Crossley was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, but kept working even when his health began to fail. He finally retired in 1996.
“I think of many things when I think of David, including his tremendous courage as he faced his medical problems,” Bishop Charles Lindsay Longest said in The Sun. “He never complained, nor did he want a pity party. He remained steady, capable and dependable.”
Besides his wife of 42 years, survivors include a son, Stephen D. Crossley of Los Angeles; a daughter, Dale P. Crossley of Baltimore; and a brother, the Rev. Jack P. Crossley of Los Angeles.
A memorial service took place Saturday, Jan. 25, in the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation, 4 East University Parkway, Baltimore, MD 21218.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the Episcopal Community Services of Maryland, in care of the cathedral.
Helen Cumming, 97, teacher, native
Helen McGlynn Cumming, a former teacher who lived her entire life on Catoonah Street, died on Thursday, Jan. 9, at Danbury Hospital. She was 97 years old and the widow of Donald W. Cumming.
Mrs. Cumming was born in a house on the south side of Catoonah Street and when she married her neighborhood boyfriend in 1934, she moved across the road to 28 Catoonah Street, where she lived the rest of her life.
A daughter of Peter and Mary Ellen Hennelly McGlynn, Mrs. Cumming was born on Feb. 21, 1905, at 29 Catoonah Street. Her father died when she was four and her mother died three years later. She and her four siblings were raised by their aunt, Jenny Hennelly, who was 30 and single when the McGlynn children were orphaned.
“Taking care of family was taken for granted,” Mrs. Cumming said many years later.
She attended Ridgefield schools — in 1914 she was one of the children selected to dig the first spadesful of dirt at the groundbreaking for the Benjamin Franklin Grammar School — now the “old high school” on East Ridge.
She graduated from Ridgefield High School and from Danbury Normal, now Western Connecticut State University in 1926. She taught seventh, eighth and ninth grades at the former Locust Avenue School in Danbury.
After her marriage, she began raising a family. Her husband, Don, had been a Harvard meteorologist who lost his job due to the Depression and returned to his hometown, where he worked for the post office and was a volunteer fire chief for many years. He died on the day after his birthday in 1953, and Mrs. Cumming began raising three children, aged four to 17, as a single parent.
Though she was nearing a century in age, Mrs. Cumming was sharp-witted and full of memories. She delighted in describing life in the village before roads were paved and when horses were still the chief mode of transportation. Just two doors east of her was Harry Thomas’s blacksmith shop and, across from the firehouse, the old B.E. Sperry Livery Stable.
Mrs. Cumming enjoyed socializing and frequent visits from family and friends. “I’m independent, but not lonely,” she said in 2000 when she marked her 95th birthday. “Never a day goes by that someone doesn’t stop by. And God is always with me.”
Mrs. Cumming was a member of St. Mary’s Church and of the Rosary Society.
Surviving is a son: Paul F. Cumming of Ann Arbor, Mich.; a daughter: Dr. Ann Kanaan, D.O. of Harlingen, Texas; a nephew: George McGlynn of Danbury as well as 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
A son, Peter Cumming, died in 1998. Her three brothers and a sister all died before her. One brother was Father Francis H. McGlynn, who had been provincial general of the Holy Ghost Fathers, an order that at one time had a seminary on Prospect Ridge.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Saturday in St. Mary’s Church. Burial will follow in St. Mary’s Cemetery.
Memorial contributions to the Visiting Nurse Association, 90 East Ridge, Ridgefield, CT 06877 would be greatly appreciated.
The Kane Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Anthony Czyr, 62, Ridgefield builder
Anthony J. “Tony” Czyr, a Ridgefield homebuilder who could quote Shakespeare with the ease of a college professor, died on Friday evening, Jan. 10, 2003, at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He was 62 years old.
Mr. Czyr, who built dozens of houses in town over the past 40 years, was a private man who quietly contributed his skills to community organizations. “Those who took the trouble to know him were deeply rewarded by the effort,” said John Katz, a longtime friend and fellow member of the Early Bird Café Morning Club.
A native of Stamford, Mr. Czyr was born on Feb. 9, 1940, a son of the late Frank and Valeria Schall Czyr. He attended Stamford schools and graduated from Stamford High School where he was a member of the football team.
Mr. Czyr studied architecture at Kansas State University in Manhattan. Although he did not become an architect, he personally designed almost all of the houses he built in town.
He moved to Ridgefield in 1964, living at first on Overlook Drive and later on North Street and finally Golf Lane. He built homes in the Golf Lane area, including portions of the old Ward Acres horse farm that had once been the Ridgefield Golf Course. He also developed Belvedere Court and built houses at Twin Ridge. In the early years he was a partner with his brother, Ed, on construction projects.
Mr. Czyr donated his services to excavate the foundation of the Scott House, the new headquarters of the Ridgefield Historical Society, and had planned to do the same for the new animal shelter, being built by the Ridgefield Organization for Animal Rescue (ROAR). “He was a very generous man,” Mr. Katz said. “He was always ready, willing and able to be drawn into these community projects.”
A man of many interests, Mr. Czyr enjoyed and could comfortably quote poetry and Shakespeare. He was an accomplished jazz guitarist who also collected guitars.
He was a member of the Lions Club and had belonged to the former Ridgefield Jaycees chapter 30 years ago.
An admirer of dogs, Mr. Czyr had a pair of bulldogs. “He was very sentimental about his dogs and his family,” said Mr. Katz.
His survivors include two sons: T.J. Czyr and his wife Cathy and Christian Czyr and his wife Donna, all of Bethel; his brother: Edward Czyr of Lansdale, Pa.; two sisters: Frances Healy of Portland, Conn., and Helen Jones of Easton, Md.; three grandchildren: Katie, Matthew and Nicholas; and several nieces and nephews.
A graveside service will take place on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 10 a.m. in St. Mary’s Cemetery. (Services will not take place in the church as previously announced.)
The Kane Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Turner A. Davies, A&S manager
Turner Albert Davies of Ridgefield and Boynton Beach, Fla., and formerly of Garden City, N.Y., a retired Abraham & Straus executive, died at his daughter’s home in Ridgefield on Jan. 2. He was 86 years old. His wife of 57 years, Helen Mae Davies, died in 1996.
Mr. Davies was born on April 22, 1916, in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and did graduate work at Harvard School of Business.
He joined Abraham & Straus department store in 1946 as a glove buyer and was made a vice president in 1960. During his career he opened and managed the Hempstead A&S, Manhasset store and also Brooklyn operations. He retired in 1978.
During his years in Garden City, he was an active member of the Garden City Community Church, Boy Scouts of America, Hempstead Rotary, and Cherry Valley Country Club.
He was a family man who couldn’t get enough of his grandchildren. He was an avid reader and enjoyed a game of golf. When he moved to Ridgefield in 1991 he would often say, “Ridgefield Golf Course was the greatest public country club around.”
He is survived by a son: Turner A. Davies Jr., of Boynton Beach; three daughters, Winifred and Tom Wells of Sedona, Ariz., Judith Slaght of Glendale, Ariz., and Deborah and Jay Whitney of Ridgefield; two brothers; 11 grandchildren including Lindsay, Gordon and Megan Whitney of Ridgefield; and six great-grandchildren.
A family memorial service is planned for the spring.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the Visiting Nurse Association of Ridgefield, 90 East Ridge, Ridgefield 06877.
The Kane Funeral Home handled arrangements.
Paris Dodakian, 90, native of Turkey
Paris Dodakian, 90, of 27 Jefferson Drive, wife of the late Arakel Dodakian, died on Friday, March 7th at Laurel Ridge, Ridgefield.
Mrs. Dodakian was born in Arapkir, Turkey, February 14, 1913, a daughter of Setrak and Satenig (Parnagian) Mirescian.
She was a resident of Ridgefield for the past 25 years coming from South Jersey.
A son, daughters and grandchildren survive Mrs. Dodakian.
Graveside funeral services will take place on Friday at 11:30 a.m. in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Ridgefield.
There will be no calling hours.
The Kane Funeral Home, 41 Catoonah Street, Ridgefield is in charge of arrangements.
Florence Dougherty, native of Ireland
Florence H. Dougherty of Broomall, Pa., a native of Ireland who had lived in Ridgefield for many years, died Sunday, Feb. 23, at Riddle Memorial Hospital in Media, Pa. She was 92 years old.
Mrs. Dougherty was born in Drumkerin, County Lietrim, a daughter of Thomas and Henriatta Rutledge Buchanan. She was the widow of David J. Dougherty, who died here in 1966.
Mrs. Dougherty had lived much of her life in Ridgefield. She was a longtime member and past master of the Mamanasco Chapter, Order of Eastern Star, and had belonged to St. Stephen’s Church. In 1986, she moved to Broomall to be closer to her family.
“A devoted mother and grandmother, she was well known for her chocolate chip cookies,” her family said. “She loved spending time with her family and friends.”
Mrs. Dougherty is survived by two sons, David J. Dougherty Jr. of Danbury and William Dougherty of Broomall; a daughter, Sarah D. Holub of Media; three sisters, Bella Buchanan and Betty Buchanan, both of New York City, and Georgina Johnston of Cavan, Ireland; a brother, Rutley Buchanan of Asbury Park, N.J.; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
A daughter, Mary Lou Eckner, died before her.
Services will take place Friday, Feb. 28, at 10 a.m. in St. John’s Episcopal Church, Concord Road, Concordville, Pa.
Contributions in her memory may be made to Riddle Memorial Hospital, 1068 West Baltimore Pike, Media, PA 19063, or to St. John’s Episcopal Church, Concord Road, Concordville, PA 19331.
The Cavanagh Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
