Amanda Ober Wallner, 76, beloved wife, mother, and teacher, died Dec. 1. Born on Nov. 16, 1942, in Corning, New York, to Emily Louise Higbie and William W. Ober, she was the third of five children.
From childhood, Amanda always showed a tremendous love of life that was evident in her passion for music. That passion led her to study opera at Ithaca College, where she received her degree in voice. She was a runner-up in auditions for the Metropolitan Opera, and was invited to participate in the International Voice Competition in Vienna. While at Ithaca College, Amanda met the love of her life, William Wallner. They went on to marry and moved to East Lansing, Michigan, to start a family. In Michigan, in addition to performing as a vocalist, she became an advocate for less violent children’s TV programming, which led her to found the Lansing Committee for Children’s Television and won her a “Diana” award from the Metropolitan Lansing Fine Arts Council.
Amanda never intended to teach, but after moving to Guilford in 1976 was persuaded to do so by Robert Pleasure, principal of A.W. Cox School. Through her 20 years teaching chorus and creating musical productions at A.W. Cox and E.C. Adams Middle School, Amanda touched the lives of hundreds of young people, instilling in them a love of all kinds of music and inspiring them to look beyond the borders of their experience. Her outstanding work garnered statewide and national attention: an official citation of the Connecticut General Assembly for promoting integration of the arts in the classroom; the Connecticut Celebration of Excellence award, given yearly to teachers who devise innovative curricular projects; the Katherine Dunham Award from the Connecticut Education Association’s Human and Civil Rights Commission; and the Hilda Maehling Grant, given annually to only four recipients nationwide from the National Foundation for Improvement of Education.
Amanda is survived by her husband of 54 years William Wallner; her two daughters Christine Wallner and Abbie Leabo; siblings Edwin B. Ober and Abbie Bernard; and her two grandchildren, Kaya and Jasper Leabo.
Services will be held on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 11 a.m. at the First Congregational Church in Guilford. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name may be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance or the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
