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Memorial for Peter Karl Oley
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Departed on Apr. 11, 2009 and resided in Ardsley-on-Hudson, NY.
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| Visitation: |
Friday, Apr. 17, 2009
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| Service: |
Saturday, Apr. 25, 2009
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| Cemetery: |
Private
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Please click on the links above for locations, times, maps, and directions.
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PETER KARL OLEY
Peter Karl Oley, longtime Irvington teacher, coach, and village
historian, died at home in Ardsley-on-Hudson on April 11th. He was 75.
The son of Katherine and Karl Oley, Peter was born in New York City and
grew up in Sleepy Hollow, where his mother was an elementary school teacher.
After graduating in 1956 from Brockport State Teachers College, where he was
captain of the cross-country and track teams, Peter moved to Irvington and
took a job teaching third grade at Dows Lane Elementary School. He would
continue to teach for 37 years, retiring in 1992. In 1957 he began his
coaching career as an unpaid assistant coach for the Irvington High School
track team. Two years later he started the school's first cross-country and
winter track programs. Peter coached for 50 years, accumulating a 422-47
record in outdoor track and a 278-75 record in cross-country. He closed out
his career in 2006 with a 133 dual meet winning streak. Overall, his track
and cross-country teams captured a combined 27 Section 1 titles, helping
Peter earn 12 Coach of the Year accolades. In 2002 he was inducted into the
Westchester Sports Hall of Fame and in 2008 was named to the New York State
Public High School Athletic Association's Hall of Fame. Thousands of
Irvington athletes past and present can claim Coach Oley as a mentor.
In the days before Irvington built a high school track, Peter improvised
with traffic cones placed around the baseball field at Memorial Park. After
the high school installed a cinder track in 1965, Peter would smooth it
before meets by dragging a chain-link fence behind his car, scratching out
lanes with a nail-studded plywood board. In 1990, the high school built its
current all-weather track and named it for Peter.
Pursuing his love of running, Peter spent numerous summers in the 1960s
attending European track-and-field events. In Helsinki in 1961 he met the
Finnish Olympian Kalevi Kotkas, who invited him home to dinner. Two years
and three trips to Finland later, Peter married Kotkas's daughter Marianne,
and they returned to settle in Irvington, where they raised their three
children (all of whom ran for their father).
In the years that followed, Peter was a founding member of the Irvington
Environmental Club, the precursor to the village's Environmental
Conservation Board (on which he served for 27 years). He was a member of the
Irvington Presbyterian Church for 45 years, serving as Trustee, Deacon, and
Elder. He was President of The Fortnightly Club from 2005-2007. In 1995,
Peter helped resurrect the long-dormant Irvington Historical Society, acting
as its president for three years and as Village Historian from 1996 onward.
Peter's encyclopedic knowledge of Irvington history included an almost
photographic recall of the names, events, and track times of nearly every
athlete he ever coached and some he didn't. Once when driving his team home
from a meet in Syracuse, Peter was stopped for speeding by a state trooper.
Recognizing the officer as a runner who had competed against Irvington years
earlier, Peter greeted him by name and with his cross-country time. He
didn't get a ticket.
Peter is survived by his wife, Marianne; a sister, Sue Oley Knapp of New
York City; his children Ann-Christine McGillicuddy of Phoenicia, New York;
Erik Oley of Irvington; and Lisbet Oley of Hastings; 5 grandchildren; and
many nieces and nephews.
Visiting hours will be at Edwards-Dowdle Funeral
Home in Dobbs Ferry on Friday, April 17th, from 5-8 p.m.
A memorial service
will be held at the Irvington Presbyterian Church on Saturday, April 25th,
at 2 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Peter Oley
Scholarship Fund, c/o Irvington High School, 40 North Broadway, Irvington,
NY 10533
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