Obituary of Dorothy K. Major

GREENFIELD CENTER: Dorothy Katherine Kochman Major, formerly of Greenfield Center, NY passed away on Sunday, February 1, 2026 after a long and happy life.

 

Dorothy, who was called Doris by her family, was born on October 7, 1932 in Amsterdam, NY to Katherine Bernaski Kochman and Michael Stanley Kochman.  She was part of a large, loving extended family headed by her grandmother Frances Ofiara Biernacki, who emigrated to Amsterdam from Poland as a young woman, and raised a total of 12 children with her husband, Jan Biernacki, himself a widower with five of those 12 children by his first wife Victoria Deda.  Dorothy grew up in the embrace of this large, fun-loving extended family.

 

Tragically, at age seven, Dorothy’s father was struck by a fatal illness and he died at the age of 42 in 1939.  Dorothy’s mother Katherine remarried to Daniel Martuscello about 9 years later.  They built a house on Langley Road and Dorothy went on to graduate from Wilbur Lynch High School in Amsterdam in 1950. She went to work in the payroll office in the clock tower building of Bigelow Sandford.  After about two years on the job she met James Major and they married in St. Stanislaus Church in 1955.

 

Between 1957 and 1964 Dorothy and James had four children: Valerie Ann (Robert Martone), Robert James (Nancy Yager), John Michael (Karen Major), and Alan.

 

Dorothy was a hands-on, energetic young mother who raised all four of her children with great love and attention. As we liked to say, she did everything!  She subsequently became the loving and enthusiastic grandmother of two: Juliet Angelica Martone, who resembles her grandmother in her preferences for hard work, healthy eating, speed walking, and a love of classical music and travel, and Clayton Major, who eats healthfully and exercises too, while he currently studies at RPI to become a mechanical engineer.

 

Once her youngest child Alan was in the sixth grade, Dorothy went back to work, where she enjoyed 14 fun and happy years working for the Saratoga Springs School District. Upon her retirement, she was surprised with a large and lavish party at the Trade Winds Restaurant, given by the teachers and staff of the Greenfield Elementary School.  She was gifted a beautiful handmade, hand-painted quilt with accompanying photo album that documented the process and all of the people who made it, under the direction of the elementary school’s art teacher.  The quilt remains in our family as a precious heirloom, and as a reminder of some of her happiest times and cherished friendships.

 

Dorothy’s and Jim’s beloved house in Greenfield had a large and park-like yard with a huge vegetable garden, and she loved to cook and bake for her family and friends.

 

“Doris,” Dorothy, “Mom,” Grandma,” “Aunt Dorothy” will always remain a much-loved, greatly missed dynamo in the hearts of all who knew her. In her later years she greatly enjoyed spending time with her dear “Saratoga friend,” Sharon Hotmer, herself a fellow Amsterdam native, with whom she shared many happy memories of the city of Amsterdam where they both grew up.

 

Dorothy will be laid to rest beside her husband in the family plot at the St. Stanislaus Cemetery in Amsterdam, NY.

 

Please visit www.alexanderfh.net for online condolences and guest book.