WALLNER, AMANDA OBER

Amanda Ober Wallner, beloved wife, mother, and teacher died December 1, 2018. Born on November 16, 1942 in Corning, NY 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 which 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

New York City ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns, known as “the great American ballerina of our time,” and Jared Angle will appear on stage at Eastern Connecticut Ballet's production of “The Nutcracker” on Saturday and Sunday.