Dora G. Flash

DORA G. FLASH
ITHACA - Dora Flash challenged herself to live as she taught her students to write, actively and in the present. She brought this approach to all aspects of an accomplished life that touched people throughout the Ithaca community and beyond with her keen interest, devotion, wisdom, loyalty, integrity and wit.
The daughter of G. Philip and Marion Grabfield, Dora grew up in Milton, Massachusetts, graduating from Milton Academy in 1946 and earning a Bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1950. As a child she rode horseback and spent summers in Nova Scotia. After college, she began a career in publishing and editing, first in Boston and then in Washington, DC at the National Planning Association. In Washington, she met and married Edward S. "Ned" Flash, Jr. They moved to Ithaca in 1956 when he joined the faculty of what is now Cornell's Johnson School of Management.
Dora continued to work as a freelance editor and for the Cornell Alumni News, while she and Ned raised their two children, Dorothy "Dodie," Newton, MA, and Stephen, Ithaca. In 1978, she joined the faculty of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell, where she developed and taught the business and oral communication courses. She enlivened the rudiments of writing for her students, and the personal interest she took in each student made a tangible difference which many still remember. A thank-you card from one of her classes includes the inscription: "you are the hippest professor we have."
People in Ithaca remember Dora for her numerous and diverse connections throughout the community including the League of Women Voters, the Cornell Committee for Foreign Student Hospitality, Suicide Prevention and Crisis Center, the Episcopal Church at Cornell, Family and Children's Service, Hospicare and Palliative Care Services of Tompkins County, Greater Ithaca Art Trail, and the Community School of Music and Art, among others. Many organizations continue to benefit from her tireless efforts as volunteer service provider, committee and board member, secretary and/or chairperson. Regardless of the task, she held that a thing is not worth doing unless it is done well. She brought practical, unifying solutions to complex and divisive issues faced by the multitudes of committees on which she served, both at Cornell and in the community.
Dora started painting after Ned's death in 1987, partially as a way of coping with the sadness of that loss. She tried to capture her lifelong fascination with the ocean in her painting, working in oils and water colors. Dora described her own characteristic resolve and determination in a 2004 Ithaca Journal article: "The problem for someone like me who is not a natural born painter is taking yourself seriously and sticking to it…Now, I paint constantly. I go through periods when I eat, sleep and drink painting." She enjoyed many companionable hours with other area artists here, and in Maine and Nova Scotia. At Kendal at Ithaca, where she lived since 2005, she enjoyed teaching a watercolor painting class.
Dora traveled worldwide throughout her life, and after retirement enjoyed more extensive trips with her second husband, Russell Bourne. Having married two, as well as having raised two, avid sailors, she enjoyed sailing with family and friends on Lake Cayuga, the coast of Maine and on several charter trips. When her daughter commented that perhaps retirement is wasted on the elderly, she retorted, "It's not wasted on me, dear. I am having a blast!"
In addition to her two children, Dora is survived by her second husband, Russell Bourne; her daughter-in-law, Elena Flash of Ithaca; her son-in-law, Scott Fitzgerald of Newton, MA; her grandchildren, Michelle, Stephanie and Edward (Ned) III of Ithaca, and Nina Flash Weisner of Newton; as well as four step-children and their families; numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. Dora was predeceased by her brother, Philip Grabfield, with whom she was close.
A celebration of the life of Dora Flash will be held at the Kendal at Ithaca Auditorium at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 1. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes, 612 W. State St, Ithaca, NY 14850, to Cornell University in memory of Dora G. Flash, sent to Cornell University, Box 223623, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-2, for the Edward S. Flash Jr. Scholarship Fund, or to a charity of your choice.