Obituary of Susan Staffa PH.D

Schenectady - Dr. Susan Jane Staffa, 73, scholar, anthropologist, teacher, author and Stockade Historian, died in the company of close family and friends early Monday morning July 12, 2010, at Glendale Home, Glenville, NY where she resided since September 2006. Born in Schenectady, October 31, 1936, she was the only and cherished child of George and Suzanne Heinz Staffa. A 1954 graduate of Nott Terrace HS, she earned her AB from Vassar, her MA in education from SUNY at Albany, and her PhD in cultural anthropology from Indiana Uni-versity. Susan's work included Curatorial Assistant, NY State Museum; Fellow of the American Research Center in Egypt; Assistant Professor of Anthropology, American University in Cairo, Egypt. During her years in Egypt she wrote Conquest and Fusion (Brill, 1977), tracing more than ten centuries of the social evolution of Cairo. Returning to the US in 1975 to care for her father Susan became the third generation of her family to own 32 Front Street where she had grown up, in what had since become NY State's first historic district, the Schenectady Stockade. Rekindled curiosity took Susan into years of diligent research on Schenectady result-ing in scores of newspaper and magazine articles, many lectures, radio and TV interviews, publication of Colonial Schenectady in Maps, the founding of the Colonial Schenectady Project, Ltd., to work at putting Schenectady's past at the service of its future, and the creation of The Historic Stockade: A Walking Tour with its audio counterpart Colonial Schenectady: An American Crucible, a multi-media self-guided tour of the Stockade District. Susan left as her legacy her groundbreaking history Schenectady Genesis: How a Dutch Colonial Village Became an American City, ca. 1661-1800, presenting the founding, development and social evolution of Schenectady as a multicultural diverse population becoming a unified society at the gateway to the west, foreshadowing what much of America was to become. She wrote with clarity, passion and her continuous search for truth. On occasion Susan worked as a consultant in history and historic preservation. She served on the City of Schenectady Historic Commission, Advisory Councils of the Schenectady Urban Cultural Park and Mohawk Valley Heritage Corridor, Schenectady Colonial Festival Committee, Schenectady 2000, the Schenectady/Nijkerk Council, Bethesda House and Schenectady Inner City Ministry. Susan received commendations from the Schenectady City Council for work on the Colonial and Batteau Festivals, the 1995 Alice P. Kenny Award for Contributions to Understanding the Dutch Colonial Experience in North America from the New Netherland Institute, and was named the Mohawk Valley Heritage Corridor's 2003 Schenectady County Heritage Hero for her extraordinary contributions to the heritage of this region through research and publications. Susan was a lifelong member of the First Reformed Church of Schenectady. Professional affiliations included the American Anthropological Assn., Middle East Studies Assn. and The Friends of New Netherland. She traveled the Near East and parts of Europe while living in Egypt and to the Netherlands twice with the Schenectady/Nijkerk Exchange. An enthusiastic culinary artist from a young age she was featured in the Gazette's food section (April, 1993). She loved animals and gardening, especially roses, and enjoyed camping and canoeing. Besides her parents and their siblings, Susan was predeceased by first cousins Conrad, Richard and Brenda Staffa and William Bowers. Survivors include first cousins Nickolas Staffa, Jr. (NC), Audrey Staffa (VA), Diana Staffa (MD), Jessie Bowers Roensch (Scotia), John Bowers (WI), several Staffa second cousins and David Bowers (NC), Carol Bowers Hersh (MA) and Amy Bowers Danckert (Altamont). We are very thankful for the consistently thoughtful, helpful, professional and loving care provided by the Schenectady County Glendale Home. Susan's memorial service will be Saturday, August 28, 10 a.m., at the First Reformed Church of Schenectady. Interment will be that afternoon, Staffa family plot, Park View Cemetery, Schenectady. Memorial contributions may be made to The Colonial Schenectady Project, 1127 Avon Road, Schenectady, NY 12308 or Schenectady County Historical Society, 32 Washington Avenue, Schenectady, NY 12305.