Obituary of Dorris Julia Richards

Miss Dorris Julia Richards, 83, of Grove Street, Amsterdam, New York died, Wednesday, December 22, 2010 at St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam. Born on January 13, 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia, she was the daughter of Clare Richards and Helen Mulligan Richards. Miss Richards was a graduate of Fort Plain High School. In her Junior year she won a 1-A rating in the NYS Piano Finalist Competition in Amsterdam. This entitled her to a scholarship at Nazareth College. She developed an interest in theater and went to Ithaca College. During her Junior year in college she won the college's first Best Actress Award. She was a member of Theta Alpha Phi. After graduating college she taught English and Drama in Little Falls. Miss Richards then went to Emerson College in Boston for training in Speech Therapy. Miss Richards was employed as a Speech Therapist in Hartford, CT and Utica, NY. She moved to New York City, where she taught at St. Michael's School and was later employed at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital. She had also worked at the office of several doctors in private practice. After being in New York City for 15 years, Miss Richards returned to Utica. During her young and mid-adult life, she was active in summer and winter professional Theater and Community Theater at Little Falls, Utica, Boston, NYC, Albany with the Cleveland Players, Manhattan's Blackfriars' Guild and the Fordham University Summer Playhouse. She was a former communicant of Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Fort Plain. Miss Richards is survived by her cousins, Vivian Newman of South Thomaston, ME and Prudence Garcia-Renart of Rhinebeck, NY.