Oswego – Ida Noyes Hawley, 96, passed away Monday, May 2, 2011.
She was born June 3, 1914, in Binghamton, NY, to the late Joseph and Rosa Noyes. She lived most of her life in Oswego where she taught second grade in the SUNY Campus School in the 1950s and 1960s. An avid Music Teacher, Ida spent much of the 1960s through the1980s teaching local students the piano. Ida graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in teaching. She was a member of the American Association of University Women, a volunteer for the Oswego Marine Museum, Historical Society, Red Cross, Literacy Volunteers, and the Heritage Foundation, where she was a past President. Ida was known for donating her time as a piano player for the Oswego Senior Citizens club, and in recent years went weekly to the Ladies Home to play for the residents. Last week, while in Sunrise Nursing Home, she played the piano for the residents, as part of her therapy.
Ida was a tireless Bell Collector and amassed a collection of over 1,000 bells from all over the world. She was a lifelong member of the American Bell Association. Many of the bells she collected she found during her love of traveling. At the age of 86 she went to Nairobi, Kenya, to visit a former foreign student, for whom she had provided free room and board in the 1960s, while he attended SUNY Oswego. He had become a School Principal, and took Ida on safari. Together they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
Ida was a Believer in the Baha’i Faith from her teens when she and a group from the Binghamton Philosophy Club heard Abdul’ Baha speak in New York. Ida spoke at many gatherings about the Baha’i beliefs in the oneness of mankind, the equality of men and women, and the fundamental truths in all religions.
Ida is survived by her son, David Hawley, daughter-in-law, Helene Hawley, and granddaughter Sara Hawley, all of Troy, NY.
Ida was married to the late Ward Hawley, of Oswego, who died in 1965, and was also mother to the late James Hawley, of Oswego, who died in 2006.
Calling hours will be held on Saturday May 7th from noon to 2:00pm, at the Dain-Cullinan Funeral Home, 112 East Second St, Oswego. A Baha’i service will follow at 2pm.
Interment will follow at the New Haven Cemetery.
The family has asked that donations in lieu of flowers be made to one of the organizations for which she volunteered in Oswego.
Online condolences can be made at www.daincullinan.com
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