Alena M. Polesny

Polesny, Alena M., M.D. ALTAMONT Alena M. Polesny, M.D., 96, passed away early Monday morning of November 26, 2007 at her home in Altamont, N.Y. Born in Prague, Czech-oslovakia on January 9, 1911, she was the only child of Frantisek and Marie Provaznik. After completing a liberal arts education she earned her doctor of medicine degree from Charles University, Prague in 1934. She was able to combine family, a medical career, love of sports and the outdoors, and a passion for world travel, literature and music. She specialized in dentistry which she practiced until immigrating to the United States, at which time she became an anesthesiologist, training at Deaconess Hospital, Flushing, N.Y., and practicing and teaching in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the NY State Medical Center in Albany and becoming chief of anesthesiology at Child's Hospital in Albany, N.Y. She was an avid athlete, enjoying canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, horseback riding and competing in skiing, in which sport she became women's downhill, grand slalom and cross country champion in Czechoslovakia. She married Karel Polesny, M.D. on July 13, 1937. They lived first in Prague and then in Mlada Boleslav, Czechoslovakia. Her life was interrupted by the 1948 Communist Putsch, as a result of which the family with three young daughters fled to West Germany. After a year in a refugee camp they spent two years in West Pakistan, where she was captain in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps. The family arrived in the United States on November 9, 1952 and lived in Flushing N.Y., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Schenectady. In 1970, Alena and Karel built a house in rural Altamont. The "city girl" cherished the country, where they kept cows, sheep, rabbits, chickens, geese and bees, and cultivated a garden in which she raised most of their vegetables. She taught countless friends how to identify and enjoy wild mushrooms and shared her red current patch with all. She still found time to read, travel throughout the world and visit her daughters and their families in Mass., Calif. and Ore. Yearly, she organized her Czech friends in creating a booth featuring Czech food and drink at the Schenectady Art Museum's International Festival. Her love of culture included classical music, opera, ballet, art, cinema, and literature. Her energy and influence were boundless; her life was a great adventure. She is survived by her husband Dr. Karel Polesny, and three daughters and sons-in-law, Drs. Zuzka and Peter Eggena of Glendale, Calif., Magda and Peter Schay of Camp Sherman, Ore. and Anna and Renato Bartoli of Northampton, Mass. She is also survived by her six loving grandchildren, Eric and Mark Eggena, Alex Schay, and their spouses, and Alena, Carlo and Antonia Bartoli, as well as seven great-grandchildren. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. The family will receive friends and those whose lives she touched at an open house on Friday and Saturday, November 30 and December 1 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the family home. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Community Hospice of Schenectady, 1411 Union St., Schenectady, NY 12308. A special thank you to all those who made her last days comfortable and peaceful.