Alma Melbourne held a PhD in biochemistry; had fled Communist Hungary
by lauren Stanforth Staff writer
Nov. 30, 2010 Updated: Nov. 30, 2010 12:35 a.m.
Alma Melbourne Luanne M. Ferris
SCOTIA -- Alma Melbourne hid with her family among empty butter barrels in the back of a farmer's truck to escape Communist persecution during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
Her father, a world-renowned wood block carver, wanted his three children to have a chance at a good education.
Melbourne fulfilled that wish, earning a bachelor's degree and later completing her doctoral thesis in biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania while pregnant with her first son. But she decided to dedicate her life to her children instead of the sciences. She went on to have two more children.
Search-and-rescue teams worked for two days last week to find Melbourne after she left her Collins Street home on foot Nov. 23 and did not return. Her body was found Thanksgiving Day on an island in the Mohawk River just west of the Rexford Bridge, likely the victim of a suicide. She was 65.
"She was very enthusiastic about the things she cared about," said her daughter Leila Melbourne, 32, of Boulder Creek, Calif.
Alma Melbourne, her artist parents and two younger twin brothers snuck to the Austrian border in 1956, living in a gymnasium there before moving to Switzerland. Melbourne's father, Joseph Domjan, whose works are on display in many museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, received a fellowship from the Guggenheim to move to New York when his daughter was 12, said Melbourne's brother, Michael Domjan, 63, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Domjans raised their children in northern New Jersey. Melbourne attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania where she met her future husband, Dr. John Melbourne. They married in 1968.
The couple raised their children in Redding, Conn., where Melbourne devoted herself to helping refugees through her congregation, Christ Church Episcopal Parish. She also organized the Crop Walk in Redding, was a PTA member and longtime member of the Country Dance and Song Society. She enjoyed dancing when she was younger, and frequently attended the theater, her daughter said.
Alma Melbourne briefly went back to work teaching high school biology when her children were young. The Melbournes moved to Scotia in 1998 when John got a job as medical director at Conifer Park in Glenville, a rehabilitation facility. But Alma Melbourne often drove back to Redding to continue her volunteer work with the church.
In recent years, one of Melbourne's joys was spending time with her two grandchildren, Leila Melbourne said.
"Towards the end she was subdued and quiet. But in earlier years she was very outgoing, very kind and very generous," Domjan said.
Scotia police said that Melbourne had been known to leave home, but she had been depressed as of late. A surveillance camera on a bike path in Collins Park caught Melbourne's image the afternoon she disappeared.
Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at the First Reformed Church, 224 N. Ballston Ave., Scotia.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us all, Robin! I was moved to discover that Alma had lived near me, and had participated as I had in CROP (Community Response On Humger and Poverty) walks through the Episcopal Church. It is breathtaking to think how unaware I was as an underclass woman of Alma's dramatic escape from Hungary. It saddens me that I did not reach out to her, that when we were all so young, I interpreted her dourness as aloofness. What a suffering soul!
We got to know John and Alma's daughter through her connection with our son (hey were both in the sustainable farming community near Santa Cruz) and knew of Alma's death through her.
Roberta R. Welte
https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Missing-woman-had-rich-past-840328.php
Missing woman had rich past
Alma Melbourne held a PhD in biochemistry; had fled Communist Hungary
by lauren Stanforth Staff writer
Nov. 30, 2010 Updated: Nov. 30, 2010 12:35 a.m.
Alma Melbourne Luanne M. Ferris
SCOTIA -- Alma Melbourne hid with her family among empty butter barrels in the back of a farmer's truck to escape Communist persecution during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
Her father, a world-renowned wood block carver, wanted his three children to have a chance at a good education.
Melbourne fulfilled that wish, earning a bachelor's degree and later completing her doctoral thesis in biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania while pregnant with her first son. But she decided to dedicate her life to her children instead of the sciences. She went on to have two more children.
Search-and-rescue teams worked for two days last week to find Melbourne after she left her Collins Street home on foot Nov. 23 and did not return. Her body was found Thanksgiving Day on an island in the Mohawk River just west of the Rexford Bridge, likely the victim of a suicide. She was 65.
"She was very enthusiastic about the things she cared about," said her daughter Leila Melbourne, 32, of Boulder Creek, Calif.
Alma Melbourne, her artist parents and two younger twin brothers snuck to the Austrian border in 1956, living in a gymnasium there before moving to Switzerland. Melbourne's father, Joseph Domjan, whose works are on display in many museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, received a fellowship from the Guggenheim to move to New York when his daughter was 12, said Melbourne's brother, Michael Domjan, 63, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Domjans raised their children in northern New Jersey. Melbourne attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania where she met her future husband, Dr. John Melbourne. They married in 1968.
The couple raised their children in Redding, Conn., where Melbourne devoted herself to helping refugees through her congregation, Christ Church Episcopal Parish. She also organized the Crop Walk in Redding, was a PTA member and longtime member of the Country Dance and Song Society. She enjoyed dancing when she was younger, and frequently attended the theater, her daughter said.
Alma Melbourne briefly went back to work teaching high school biology when her children were young. The Melbournes moved to Scotia in 1998 when John got a job as medical director at Conifer Park in Glenville, a rehabilitation facility. But Alma Melbourne often drove back to Redding to continue her volunteer work with the church.
In recent years, one of Melbourne's joys was spending time with her two grandchildren, Leila Melbourne said.
"Towards the end she was subdued and quiet. But in earlier years she was very outgoing, very kind and very generous," Domjan said.
Scotia police said that Melbourne had been known to leave home, but she had been depressed as of late. A surveillance camera on a bike path in Collins Park caught Melbourne's image the afternoon she disappeared.
Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at the First Reformed Church, 224 N. Ballston Ave., Scotia.
Nancy Bennett
Thank you so much for posting this. I had no idea. This is a sad but rich tribute to Alma.
Emily Albrink (Hartigan)
Thank you, Robin. Tremendously tragic. But it's important to know, and remember.
Susan Knotter (Walton)
Thanks so much for sharing this with us all, Robin! I was moved to discover that Alma had lived near me, and had participated as I had in CROP (Community Response On Humger and Poverty) walks through the Episcopal Church. It is breathtaking to think how unaware I was as an underclass woman of Alma's dramatic escape from Hungary. It saddens me that I did not reach out to her, that when we were all so young, I interpreted her dourness as aloofness. What a suffering soul!
Jean Mclaughlin (Kim)
We got to know John and Alma's daughter through her connection with our son (hey were both in the sustainable farming community near Santa Cruz) and knew of Alma's death through her.