IN MEMORIAM
Bud Pirone Funeral Is Saturday;
Principal On OHS Wall Of Fame
ONEONTA – William (Bud) Pirone, revered retired Oneonta High School principal and one of the founders of the active alumni association, died on Jan. 13, 2020, one day shy of his 81st birthday. He passed in peace at the Fox Nursing Home, where he had been a resident for a year following a series of strokes starting in September 2018.
Calling hours will be this Saturday, Jan. 25, from 1 to 3 p.m., followed by a service at 3 p.m. to remember Bud’s life at the Oneonta Senior High School auditorium, 130 East St.
Bud was born on January 14, 1939, in Rome. N.Y., the second child of William and Madelyn Pirone. The family relocated to Oneonta when he was a young boy and lived on Union Street, adjacent to Wilber Park, where he roamed the woods and developed a love for tennis.
He attended Bugbee school, where he made many lifelong friends, and Oneonta High School, graduating in 1956. Bud attended Syracuse University, where he studied history and played on the university tennis team, frequently traveling to play at competing East Coast colleges.
After graduating, he returned to the Oneonta area, and began his teaching career at Oxford High School in 1960. After a year at Oxford, he moved on to Sidney High School, where he served as a teacher for three years, before being hired as a teacher and tennis coach at Oneonta High School.
He spent the remainder of his career in Oneonta, first as a teacher of European History and Russian Studies, then moving into a series of leadership roles, including high school principal, until his retirement in 1997.
Bud had many interests: a love of reading, music and movies, jigsaw and crossword puzzles and was a true fan of the Boston Red Sox, who he followed faithfully starting in boyhood.
In retirement he spent as much time as possible at the Arnold Lake camp purchased with his second wife, Rose Anne. They took daily walks, stopping to chat with neighbors, and volunteered to walk dogs for those who had a harder time getting up and down the hills. In winter they enjoyed snowshoe walks along the snowy lake road and in warmer weather swimming and sunning were favorite activities.
Bud deeply loved his hometown of Oneonta and served his community by sitting on various local boards, including the Dewar Foundation, the Ricky J. Parisian Foundation, and the Fox Hospital board; he was also a founder of the OHS Alumni Association.
Bud is predeceased by his parents, stepmother Kathleen, and his sister Connie, as well as his mentors, George Waddington and Charles Belden.
Bud is survived by his wife, Rose Anne Pirone; three children and their partners, Patty (Orson Moon), Kim (Walter Baskin) and Michael (Maureen Flinton); grandchildren, Hannah, Sam, Sadie and Lila and several nieces and nephews.
He was blessed with an extended family and friendship group who gave generously of their time and care at the end of his life. His sister-in-law, Mary Powell, provided care and expertise from her nursing career and the extended Powell family and a constellation of friends and colleagues paid regular visits, baked sweet treats and cared for Rose Anne so that she could continue to care for Bud with love and hope.
In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to Dollars for Scholars, PO Box 1083, Oneonta, NY 13820, www.oneonta.dollarsforscholars.org (William Pirone Scholarship in the memo) or the OHS Alumni Association, The UPS Store, #6676, Box #106, Oneonta, NY 13820, www.oneontahighalumni.org
The family would like to send their thanks and appreciation to the AO Fox Memorial Nursing Home Staff, who took such good care of Bud over the past year.
Arrangements are by Oneonta’s only family-owned funeral home, Lewis, Hurley & Pietrobono at 51 Dietz St. Expressions of sympathy may be made at, www.lhpfuneralhome.com
Tremendous man. An inspiration to countless students. God bless both Bud and Rose Ann as well as their family.
I am so sorry for you loss. I didn’t have Mr. Pirone as a teacher but as a member of the Oneonta Community.
Rose Anne,
I am so sorry for your loss. I personally did not know Bud, but knew how much is was respected and loved by the community.
Please know that you and your family are in prayers.
With deepest sympathy,
Barbara Church
A wonderful man. I succeeded Bud as tennis coach for five years when I returned home to OHS from college to teach. Those were big sneakers to fill! It was a pleasure to know and work with him. He set a wonderful example for us all.
There are times when I wish we still lived in Oneonta. This Saturday is one of those times. Bud was a great colleague and even greater man. His keen interest and inquiry were a guiding force for his students, educational colleagues, and community. Oneonta was blessed to have his leadership for so long. Bud, you will be on my mind this Saturday and in my prayers. To the family…please accept my sincerest condolences.
Bud Pirone was my history teacher and tennis coach. He was also a wise and kind mentor and friend to me for more than 50 years. Bud had a profound impact on generations of students in Oneonta and was the epitome of the servant leader. We were all blessed to have known him. My deepest sympathy to his family.
We have lost a great OHS historian and friend. His stories of OHS and Oneonta will truly be missed. Rest well, Mr Pirone. You will be missed.
I’m sorry that I won’t be able to give my respect on Saturday. He was a wonderful man and I will miss him. Sincerely, Deborah Morrison
Roseann and family our condolence to all. Bud was one of the founders of the OHS Alumni Association and was very helpful with many of the ideas the group put together. He is now in the hands of God who will take care of him. God Bless all of you.
No finer teacher, or human being, than Bud Pirone.
He was a great teacher and had had the honor of being in several of his classes. He will be greatly missed.
My wife, Amy Foell, and I are sad to hear the news of Bud’s passing. Amy (OHS ’70) had him as a teacher. She remembers learning a lot, and having fun doing it. If the lesson ended early, he’d have the students play trivia. At the time, she lived across from him on Otsego St.
I (OHS ’67) never had him as a teacher, but knew him, and he knew me. I was telling Amy, several years ago there was a “reunion” at Bugbee, where I went, too; I parked on Maple St and was walking up the hill when I heard, “Hi, Harry.” It was Bud; he recognized me from the back–he always remembered students and their names.
I grew up on Irving Place, near Olin Ave and the Park, near where he grew up. I, too, spent lots of time in Wilber Park. My brother, Jon Hansen, played tennis there and so knew Bud well. Bud was disappointed when my family moved to Cooperstown in 1969, because Jon would not, then, play tennis for him at OHS.
My family has been at Arnold’s Lake for many, many years, as was Bud, so I knew him there, too. One of the last times we saw him was at a Lake Association meeting there in 2018; then, again, that summer, I caught up with him and his wife walking around the Lake.
Bud was a bright light in our world, and a friendly and positive influence in it. We were fortunate to have had him in our lives, and to know him. Unfortunately, we will not be able to make the services. I expect we will see his wife and sister-in-law at the Lake next summer.
Our very fond memories and condolences.