Roxanne L. Donnery

Roxanne Donnery
December 10, 1943-January 2, 2023
Highland Falls, NY
Roxanne Donnery, 79, of Highland Falls, NY, passed away peacefully on January 2, 2023 at the Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, NY, following a several-year battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Roxanne was born in Elmira, NY before the family relocated to Garnerville, NY. She attended St. Peters School in Haverstraw and was a graduate of Haverstraw High School, before attending college at the State University at Buffalo and graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz with a BS in Education. She also took graduate courses at New Paltz between 1975-1977. Donnery taught art for 17 years in the East Ramapo School District and two years at North Rockland High School in Theils, NY.
A lifelong advocate for education, Donnery was a board member for the Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District for 18 years and had served several times as President or Vice President of the board. Most recently, she served as a volunteer legislative liaison for the school district, in relation to Impact Aid, the federal funding provided annually as part of the school district's education budget for local public schools. She was the founder of Roxanne interiors, an interior design and art business, starting in the 1980s. She and her husband James are owners of the bed and breakfast, Overlook on Hudson, an historic property overlooking the river, in Highland Falls.
She also served as Orange County Legislator, beginning in 1998, as a Democrat representing the 14th Legislative district for the towns of Highlands and Woodbury until 2013, including one year, as Chairman, in 2009, which occurred when a single Republican crossed party lines to support her, marking the first time a Democrat led the chamber in its 39-year history. In 2002 and 2010, she ran against Republican Nancy Calhoun for the New York State 96th Assembly District but lost both times. In 2013, Donnery decided to forgo running for her legislative seat, and instead ran against Republican Steve Neuhaus for Orange County Executive. Her loss to Neuhaus ended her political career.
Donnery's legislative achievements included working to make substantial changes to improve the Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS) Law. She also helped to unite the legislature in their vote to re-examine the KJ Pipeline, the cost and the environmental impacts. She persisted in creating an investigatory committee in the legislature to the Valley View Center for Nursing Care and Rehabilitation, which resulted in keeping the center under control of Orange County and replacing its manager with a -more efficient manager and program. The $15 million deficit was erased in just three years. Donnery was lauded for her enormous commitment to saving Valley View.
She is survived by her husband of 59 years, James Donnery and their four children, Kim Espinoza of Highland Falls, Marie Muschek and her husband Richard of Madison, AL, Sean Donnery and his wife, Theresa of Sarasota, FL, and Emily Donnery of Land O Lakes, FL., brother John Roche of Middletown,NY and sister Jayme Roche Kulesz and her brother-in-law Bartholomew Kulesz of Land O Lakes, FL. She is also survived by eight grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, James and Martha Roche of Garnerville, NY and son-in-law Pedro Ponce Espinoza.
On Monday, January 9, there will be a Mass held at 10:00 am at Sacred Heart Church, 353 Main St, Highland Falls, followed by a luncheon at the Hotel Thayer, West Point at 11:30 am.
Memorial donations may be made to the Leukemia Foundation, www.leukemiarf.org