Apr 5, 2008
Dael Piro, educator, storyteller

Dael Mackenzie Piro of Weston, a former teacher at Redding Elementary School and a storyteller, died March 28, 2008, at her home after a prolonged illness. She was 70.

The daughter of Gerald and Elizabeth Gilroy, Ms. Piro was born in New York City in 1937. After moving with her family to Connecticut, she graduated from Norwalk High School and attended Skidmore College for two years before receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.

She then received a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of Speech and Hearing and worked as a speech pathologist within the Natick, Mass., and later Norwalk, school systems.

Ms. Piro left her job to raise two children in Weston, but later got back into education as a third grade teacher at Redding Elementary School, where, her family said, she was universally loved by students and colleagues.

Ms. Piro later became a storyteller and member of the Connecticut Storytelling Center and Storytelling Anon, and the Asheville Storytelling Circle in North Carolina, performing often at Tellabrations in Connecticut and North Carolina and at the Connecticut Storytelling Conference.

Ms. Piro is survived by her former husband Anthony Piro; children Kenzie Doornweerd and husband Michael, and Ross Piro and wife Katherine Jarvis; grandchildren Tyler and Finn Doornweerd; and brother Michael Gilroy.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 6, at the Wilton Presbyterian Church, 48 New Canaan Road, Wilton.

Contributions may be sent to Mid-Fairfield Hospice, P.O. Box 489, Wilton, CT 06897, www.mid-fairfieldhospice.com, or The Smile Train, 245 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2201, New York, NY 10016, www.smiletrain.org/goto/DaelPiro.



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