Dr. Corrine Louise Russell Donley

Corrine Louise Russell was born on April 9, 1936, in East Liverpool, Ohio, the first daughter of John Louis Russell and Mildred Louise Shenton Russell Zeigler. During World War II, Corrine lived with her parents and attended first and second grades in Cleveland. She moved back to East Liverpool for third grade to live with grandparents and an aunt and uncle. John and Mildred returned to East Liverpool after the war, gathered the family back together and opened a family electrical business.

Shortly thereafter, Corrine’s parents divorced and Mildred moved back to Cleveland with their second daughter, Joan Annette. Corrine went to live with family and friends in East Liverpool while attending various schools.

John Russell met and married Bertha Marie Buchholz in East Liverpool when Corrine was 12. Joan moved between her mother and father’s homes as a child, while Corrine lived with her father and stepmother until college. Corrine’s half-sisters, Jeri Lynn and Dorothy Elaine were born during those years.

Corrine’s two passions were music and special education throughout her childhood. She showed an early interest in playing the piano and, although her family could not afford lessons, a music teacher recognized her talent and offered to instruct Corrine before school. She graduated from East Liverpool High School in 1954.

Corrine pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in music education at The Ohio State University (OSU) graduating in 1958 cum laude. Corrine was awarded numerous scholarships that supported her first year at OSU. Her residency in the Mary Pomerene Alumni Scholarship House, scholarships, and working part time allowed her to support herself for the remaining three years.

She earned several honors at OSU, including membership in the Freshman Women's Honorary, Alpha Lambda Delta, the Music Honorary, Delta Omicron, as well as the Senior Women’s Honorary, Mortarboard. Corrine sang with the Symphonic Choir and Women’s Glee Club, for which she was accompanist, and played violin with the OSU Symphony.

Corrine met her ex-husband, Loren Duane Donley, as a junior at OSU while they both sang with the Symphonic Choir. As a graduate student and the choir’s Assistant Director, Loren studied Liturgical Music. They were married in 1957 and moved to Point Pleasant, New Jersey where Loren became the first music teacher and supervisor of the performing arts program at Point Pleasant Borough High School.

Corrine pursued her love of music and served as assistant director, along with Loren as director,  of music at Point Pleasant Presbyterian Church in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, from 1960 to 1975. She frequently accompanied the choir on piano and organ during church services.

Corrine taught kindergarten (1963-64 and 1967-69) and special education while raising her three sons and one daughter. She taught special education at Aldrich Elementary School in the Howell Township, New Jersey school district for twenty years (1969-1989).

Corrine achieved her Masters Degree in Music at the Trenton State College of New Jersey (1981) and her Masters Degree in Special Education at Teachers College Columbia University (1989) in New York City. She also received a Doctorate in Special Education and Behavior Analysis at Teachers College Columbia University (1990).

During these years she interned in New York and eventually became the parent trainer at the Keller Preschool for Children with Special Needs. She also worked as an assistant professor of special education at Georgian Court University from 1989 to 1991. Corrine left New Jersey to accept a position as an assistant professor of special education from 1992 to 2002 and university coordinator of assessment from 1997 to 2002 at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She began a private practice as a behavior analyst and consultant in 2000 and continued this work until her retirement in 2011.

As a pioneer in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis, Corrine’s research has been published in leading scientific journals and she started a graduate fellowship in her name in this field of study at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was a founding member of the Wisconsin Association of Behavior Analysis (WisABA) and became its first president. Corrine was instrumental in the passage of a Wisconsin law that mandated funding for families of children and adults with autism.

In 1981, she was recognized as a Teacher of the Year by the Association for Developmentally Delayed (ARC) of Monmouth County. Dr. Donley has been a member of the Association for Behavior Analysis International, National Education Association, and the National Association of Professional Women, where she was recognized as an NAPW VIP Woman of The Year, among others.

After heart surgery, Corrine retired in 2011 and later moved to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio to live with her daughter, Cheryl and son-in-law Don Warren. In 2021, Corrine moved to an apartment in the independent living wing of the Vitalia senior community in Stow, Ohio where she passed away peacefully in her sleep on December 19, 2023.

Corrine is survived by her sisters Joan (Russell) Barnes and Dorothy Russell, her son Mark and his wife Cheryl Lynn of Toms River, New Jersey, son Kevin and his wife Sally Denise of Southfield, Michigan, son Dana and his wife Margaretta Rieke of Novi, Michigan, and her daughter Cheryl Ruth and her husband Donald Warren of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, her grandchildren Rebecca, Branden, Brent, Eric, Zachary, Scott, Matthew, David, Brian and Aidan, her greatgrandchildren Angel, Aliyah, Anthony and Arron, and great-great-granddaughters Sosa and Lola, along with a host of nieces and nephews.

Corrine also leaves behind her beloved friends Dr. Barbara Sobel and David Jividen. She is predeceased by her parents John Russell and Louise (Shenton) Ziegler, step-mother Bertha (Buchholz) Russell and her sister Jeri Lynn (Russell) Brown.

There will be no public viewing or funeral service at this time. The family will announce a memorial service and celebration of Corrine’s life in the future.

In lieu of flowers,

The Loren Donley Scholarship
Point Pleasant Boro High School
808 Laura Herbert Drive
Point Pleasant, NJ 08742
Attn: Becky Muraglia

Services in care of The Billow Funeral Homes & Crematory, Falls Chapel, 1907 23rd Street Cuyahoga Falls, OH  44223