ObituaryNorth: Dolores Stehr / Key player in creating = Austrian nationality room

From: Subject: ObituaryNorth: Dolores Stehr / Key player in creating Austrian nationality room Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 21:23:04 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01C4BAD8.D07C0EF0" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C4BAD8.D07C0EF0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/04273/386901.stm ObituaryNorth: Dolores Stehr / Key player in creating = Austrian nationality room

ObituaryNorth: Dolores Stehr / Key player in creating Austrian = nationality room

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

By = Alisha=20 Hipwell

When Dolores Stehr became treasurer of the Austrian American = Cultural=20 Society in 1978, the group had virtually nothing saved toward its = goal of=20 establishing an Austrian nationality room at the University of = Pittsburgh.

By the time the university gave the group the go-ahead nearly = 20 years=20 later, it had raised more than $300,000.=20

"It was a very small beginning, and there were times when it = looked=20 like it wouldn't come to fruition, but it worked and Dolores was = very=20 instrumental in making that happen," said her husband, Frank = Stehr.

Mrs. Stehr, of Shaler, a founding member of the Austrian = American=20 Cultural Society and a key player in the establishment of the = Austrian=20 nationality room in the university's Cathedral of Learning, died = of cancer=20 Sept. 19. She was 75.

Mrs. Stehr was raised in Mount Troy by Austrian parents who = impressed=20 on her the importance of preserving her heritage.

"She was 100 percent American and yet she would have fit = perfectly into=20 any Salzburg home," said Maxine Bruhns, director of the University = of=20 Pittsburgh nationality rooms.

Bruhns recalled watching Mrs. Stehr and her husband perform the = tradition of lighting advent wreath candles at various Austrian = heritage=20 events.

"It was a tradition no one performed quite as gracefully as = them," she=20 said.=20

In the late '70s, Mrs. Stehr helped form the Austrian American = Cultural=20 Society, an organization founded for the express purpose of = establishing=20 an Austrian nationality room.

The nationality rooms in the Cathedral of Learning are one of=20 Pittsburgh's best-known attractions. Each of the 26 rooms is = decorated to=20 reflect the heritage and traditions of a specific culture.=20

Stehr said raising funds for the project was difficult, but = that his=20 wife was undeterred.

"It was just something that caught her [interest] so that, for = the 17=20 or 18 years it took to establish that room, it was just a = delight," he=20 said.=20

The society sold pastries and held other fund-raisers, = including the=20 Austrian Ball, an annual event for the past 20 years. The society = reached=20 its goal in 1994, and two years later, the completed Austrian = nationality=20 room was dedicated.

Designed by Viennese architect Franz Gerhard=20 Schngass, the room was patterned using design = elements=20 from some of Austria's finest palaces and includes red damask = draperies,=20 hand-painted ceiling murals and crystal chandeliers.=20

Mrs. Stehr went on to serve on the committee that oversaw = maintenance=20 of the room, and she also gathered applications for the = Intercultural=20 Exchange Program, a related scholarship program that sends = students=20 abroad.=20

She also served as a volunteer in the library at Children's = Hospital in=20 Oakland. Before her three children were born, Mrs. Stehr had been = a=20 librarian at the Veterans Administration hospital in Aspinwall.

Until weeks before her death, she volunteered at UPMC Passavant = in=20 McCandless.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Stehr is survived by two sons, = Paul=20 Stehr-Green of Port Angeles, Wash., and John C. Stehr of = Zionsville, Ind.;=20 a daughter, Carolyn S. Johnson, of Rochester Hills, Mich.; and = four=20 grandchildren.=20

A blessing service was held Sept. 21 in Bock Funeral Home in = Shaler.=20 Interment followed in Mount Royal Cemetery in Shaler.=20

(Alisha Hipwell is a freelance writer.)

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