Courtesy of the Ossining Historical Society and Museum
Anne M. Dorner
1902 – 1962
OHS 1921
Secretary to OUFSD Superintendent
Clerk of the Ossining School Board
***Local Connection: 14 Washington Avenue***
Anna M. Dorner was born on January 3, 1902, to Frederick and Ellen Dorner. Her father, born in Germany, was a prison guard at Sing Sing. By 1920, he would be promoted to the position of Assistant Principal Keeper.
Anna was the third of four siblings – William, Helen and Frederick.
She would go to Ossining High School, graduate in 1921, and by the 1925 census, she would be listed as working as a secretary. The 1930 census would give a bit more information and note that she was working as a “School stenographer.” The Ossining Public Schools Board of Education Pamphlet for 1934-35 would list her as “Anna M. Dorner, Secretary to the Superintendent, Harvey Culp.”
By 1940, she’s Anne Dorner, living in the family home at 14 Washington with her 78-year-old father, and working as a secretary to the Superintendent of the Public Schools.
In various yearbooks, there are grainy pictures of her sitting at conference tables with school board members. She is always smiling, unlike most of the people around her:
Photos from various Ossining “Wizard” Yearbooks
Courtesy of the Ossining Historical Society and Museum
She retired in 1962 after 40 years working for the Ossining Schools, and in the yearbook that year, she received a full-page appreciation from Charles M. Northrup, the Superintendent of Schools. Among other encomiums, he writes “The world has always needed and will continue to need more individuals like you, Anne, people who put service to others above self-service. Your 40 years of dedicated work for the improvement of our schools should serve as a great inspiration to the young people of Ossining.”
She would pass away just a year later and is buried in St. Augustine’s Cemetery.
St. Augustine’s Cemetery, Ossining, 2024
In death as in life, Miss Anne M. Dorner remains elusive. Her gravestone, flush with the earth, is difficult to find, overshadowed as it is by a larger monument.
In 1966, the new Ossining middle school would be dedicated in her name.
While some may feel that she was not an august enough personage to merit such a distinction, it is a lovely gesture, to honor someone who it seems just quietly, capably and cheerfully got on with it and took care of things.
We do indeed need more people like her in the world.
Ossining History on the Run 