Catherine C. Greene

A religious woman who loved music and shared her passion with others, Catherine C. Greene died on Dec. 26, 2009 after 11 days in St. Peter’s Hospice Care. She was 76.

She had fought a 17-year battle with breast cancer. She initially went through chemotherapy and radiation treatment, said her sister, Anne Ward. “She got very sick,” said Ms. Ward. Her cancer went into remission but returned, Ms. Ward said. Ms. Greene then went to Mexico for alternative treatment over the course of five or six years, she said.

The cancer moved to her bones and, then, when another mass was found, said Ms. Ward, “She refused chemo or radiation….She didn’t feel it would accomplish anything. She didn’t want to go through the agony again.”

Ms. Greene enjoyed visits from family and friends until the end, including parishioners from St. Lucy’s Church in Altamont, said her sister. Ms. Greene had lived in Altamont and worked as a director of religious education at St. Lucy’s.

“We started together in 1982,” said Sister Mary Lou Liptak of St. Lucy’s. “She touched many people. Preparing people for the sacraments, these are intimate moments. She touched many lives.”

Ms. Greene was born on Aug. 25, 1933 in the city of Albany to the late Catherine C. and Herman P. Greene. The oldest of five children, she had two brothers, a sister, and a brother who died in infancy. Her father was an attorney and her mother was a homemaker. The family was a religious one, said Ms. Ward.

Ms. Greene started taking music lesson at an early age. Ms. Ward remembers seeing her perform at Vincentian Institute in Albany, from which she graduated. She went away to college for a year before joining the Sisters of Mercy. She was known then as Sister Mary Hermana and graduated from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, and went on to earn a master’s degree in music from the Catholic University of America.

She was an accomplished musician, teaching and playing the piano, violin, and organ. “She taught music over the years,” said her sister, “and she worked as a vocal coordinator in schools for singing classes.”

After leaving the convent, Ms. Greene worked in several parishes within the Albany Catholic Diocese, retiring a few years ago after serving in St. Lucy’s Parish in Altamont.

“She was outgoing in many respects,” said her sister, and she served in many organizations. Ms. Greene was a member of Gilda’s Club in Schenectady and involved in numerous city organizations, including the Vale Cemetery Association. She lived at 15 Barney Street in Schenectady, near the Vale neighborhood, and wrote several successful grants for the neighborhood association, her sister said.

Ms. Greene would get together twice each year to vacation with her sister and two brothers. They went to Myrtle Beach, S.C. in November, and to Florida at the end of January.

“We like to be in touch,” said Ms. Ward.

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Catherine C. Greene is survived by her brothers, Herman P. and Charles R. Greene; her sister, Anne E. Ward, and her husband, Eugene; several nieces and nephews; and her very dear friend, Sister Rita Mary Melcher, RSM.

Her infant brother, Louis Joseph, died before her as did her parents, Catherine C. Greene, née Hayes, and Herman P. Greene, Esq.

She has donated her body to Albany Medical College. There will be no formal wake and funeral at this time. Arrangements are by the Hans Funeral Home of Albany.

A memorial Mass is planned for Jan. 3 at 9:30 a.m. at the Convent of Mercy on New Scotland Avenue in Albany.

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Carl Sand

GUILDERLAND — Carl Sand, a teacher and family man with a passion for public service, died on Dec. 26, 2009. He was 66.

Mr. Sand was born in Albany on Oct. 18, 1943, to the late Carl Sand Sr., and Dorothy Sand. He attended Guilderland High School, where he met and dated Janet King Sand, his wife of 44 years.

In Mr. Sand’s early career, he was a teacher. He taught social studies for 15 years in two school districts — Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, and Cobleskill Central. His sister, Susan Weinberg, said teaching came naturally to her brother.

“He took on a dual role from an early age — he was a brother and a father figure,” she said of Mr. Sand, who was 12 when his first sibling was born, and 18 when Susan, the youngest, was born. “He could have distanced himself with that age gap, but he included his siblings in everything,” said Ms. Weinberg.

After 15 years of teaching, Mr. Sand pursued a career in real estate, and worked as a broker agent to hundreds of families through Century 21 and Realty USA. It was a job Ms. Weinberg said her brother loved. He also returned to teaching briefly, as an adjunct professor at State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill from 1992 to 1993.

Public service was a passion for Mr. Sand, and he was an avid politician, his sister said. He served as Schoharie County Democratic Committeeman for Cobleskill for over 30 years, and the Democratic State Committeeman for Schoharie County starting in 1998. He was also a member of Rotary International, beginning in 1997, and he served as its president from 1994 to 1995.

“My brother was incredibly active in the community — he was a real go-getter,” said Ms. Weinberg. Mr. Sand was involved with the Cobleskill Volunteer Fire Department, the Chaplaincy School of Schoharie County Community Hospital, the Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Schoharie County Arts Council, the Bluebird Society, the Chamber of Commerce, the historical society, and youth soccer and baseball leagues.

Mr. Sand was also very religious, said his sister, and served on the board of trustees at the Cobleskill United Methodist Church.

“My brother wore a lot of hats,” Ms. Weinberg said.

His hobbies included hiking and reading, and he was a lover of music. His sister called him a “true family man,” and said he loved to hold family gatherings at his home, not just for his immediate family, but for the whole extended family.

“If even half of us could live as fully as he did, this would be a better place,” she said.

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Carl Sand is survived by his three children and their spouses — Joel and Donna Sand, of Northampton, N.J., Kate and Brian Elder, of Cobleskill, and Mark and Sarah Barnes Sand, of Beijing, China; his three siblings and their families — Lisa and Larry Pierce of Schoharie, Peter and Karen Sand of Saratoga, and Susan and Daniel Weinberg, of Guilderland; and, nine grandchildren — Dominic, Arianna, Carson, Cameron, Joel Jr., Nicholas, Christopher, Luther, and Paxton.

His brother, Eric Sand, died before him.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 31, at the Cobleskill United Methodist Church, on Chapel Street, in Cobleskill. Pastor Pam Mikel Hayes will officiate. Burial will be private in Cobleskill Rural Cemetery. Arrangements are by the Mereness Putnam Funeral Home in Cobleskill.

WRIGHT — Nancy E. Sturm, née Penk, a long-time telephone-company worker who liked traveling with her husband, died unexpectedly on Dec. 25, 2009. She was stricken suddenly at her Wright home on Christmas Day and taken to Ellis Hospital in Schenectady. She was 63.

“Nancy enjoyed traveling with her husband in their motor home, following her retirement,” her family wrote in a tribute. “She especially enjoyed the New England coast and also riding bicycles.”

Mrs. Sturm was born on June 26, 1946 in Albany, a daughter of Mildred, née Crounse, and Ernest Penk. She graduated from Schoharie Central School in 1954 and began working for the Fuller Brush Company. She later began her career with the New York Telephone Company. She worked for the telephone company, which became Verizon, for 24 years, retiring in 1995.

She married Stephen J. Sturm on Nov. 5, 1983.

She was a member of the Gallupville United Methodist Church.

Mrs. Sturm is survived by her husband, Stephen J. Sturm, and his children, Patricia Sturm of Albany, and Stephen “Jack” Sturm and his wife, Bonnie, of Carlisle; one sister, Florence Ogsbury, and her husband, Richard, of Gallupville; one niece, Celeste Yung, and her husband, John; one nephew, Sheldon Ogsbury; three step-grandchildren, three step-great-grandchildren; one grandniece; and one grandnephew.

A funeral service was held on Wednesday, Dec. 30, at the Langan Funeral Home in Schoharie. Burial will be at a later date in the Gallupville Rural Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Scho-Wright Ambulance Service, Post Office Box 325, Schoharie, NY 12157, or to Marathon-for-A-Better-Life, Post Office Box 268, Warnerville, NY 12187.