Controller remembered for her sense of humor, love of travel

Published in the January 20, 2016 edition

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Susan Mary Dunphy Stevens, a former resident of Pierstown, N.Y., and retired controller at The Otesaga Resort Hotel in Cooperstown, N.Y., died Sunday, December 27, 2015, at the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home in Winston–Salem, North Carolina. She was 58.

Born December 23, 1957, in Framingham, Mass., Susan Mary Dunphy was one of three daughters of James Henry Dunphy Jr. and Jean Louise Gillum Dunphy.

After graduating in 1975 from Rutland Senior High School in Vermont, she earned an associate degree in Hotel and Resort Management from SUNY College of Technology at Delhi and then a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Trinity College of Vermont in Burlington. She also completed course-work at Cornell University.

Sue held positions at The Desmond Americana in Albany, N.Y., The Statler Hotel at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and Sheraton Burlington, Bruegger’s Bagels and The Clarion Hotel in Burlington, Vt. From 2000 – 2013, she was employed as the controller at The Otesaga Resort Hotel in Cooperstown. After living in Pierstown, she re-located for health reasons to North Carolina, living first in Asheville and then Clemmons.

She will be remembered for her sense of humor, love of cats, love of travel, and strong financial talents.

Susan is survived by her two sisters, Deborah A. Dunphy and her husband, John E. Welch, of Lynnfield, Mass., and Patricia J. Pelis and her husband, Michael, of Enfield, Conn.; and two nephews and one niece, John D. Welch and Anne G. Welch of Lynnfield and James Michael Pelis of Enfield. She is further survived by her beloved cat, Marshall.

She was predeceased by her father, James Henry Dunphy Jr., who died January 9, 2005, and her mother, Jean Louise Dunphy, who died October 26, 2007. In addition, she was predeceased by three beloved cats, Bud (Bobo), Toto and Gulliver.

A memorial service will be offered at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 13, 2016, at the Connell, Dow and Deysenroth Funeral Home, Cooperstown, N.Y., with the Rev. David Wm. Mickiewicz, pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Oneonta, officiating. Friends may call at the funeral home one hour prior to the service.

Susan will be laid to rest with her parents in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Randolph, Mass.

In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy in the form of memorial gifts may be made to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, 801 Roeder Road, Suite 1000, Silver Spring, MD 20910, or a charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements are under the care and guidance of the Connell, Dow and Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown, N.Y.