Anne Dolce has been teaching music for 30 years at Panama Central School. Dolce will be retiring at the end of the school year. Submitted photo

PANAMA — Longtime music teacher Anne Dolce is retiring after more than 30 years at Panama Central School.

“It’s very bittersweet,” Dolce said. “I’ve had an amazing career at Panama. I was hired in 1992 and the teacher before me was hired in 1960, and it’s no wonder to me that there have only been two band directors in that time. It’s a great place to work and call home. The community is wonderful and it’s very easy to thrive.”

While she has no immediate future plans, Dolce said she does have a few things she is looking forward to.

“I’m going to have nice, relaxing walks with my dog,” Dolce said. “I’ll be playing pickleball and (substitute teaching) every so often. I don’t mind working. I think I will find my path, but I’m not jumping into anything very quickly.”

Dolce said she is most proud of the successful band trips and competitions during her tenure.

See DOLCE, Page A3

“We’ve just had so many successful band trips,” Dolce said. “I have current parents of students who started out as my students, and all of them have gone on band trips and competitions to places like Myrtle Beach. We had so many wonderful experiences. I always say, even if we don’t win, the experience and learning and the path that we took to get there is what’s most important. That, and that we had fun.”

Dolce graduated from West Virginia University and previously worked in Prince George’s County, Maryland and Fairfax County, Virginia before moving back home to Chautauqua County. Altogether, she has been a music teacher for 35 years.

Dolce is married to Jamestown High School’s Tony Dolce, and together they have two children, Christian and Amelia. Her father is Bill Chandler, longtime music director at Holy Apostles Church. Dolce is the church’s handbell choir director and current assistant director of music ministries working with the adult choir. Other music activities for Dolce include performing with the Harmonic Brass Quintet and the Chautauqua Concert Band, and Dolce said she is thinking about giving private lessons to area brass students. She has also played the French horn as a part of the Living Christmas Tree.

Panama Superintendent Bert Lictus reflected on Dolce’s career at Panama and what she has meant to the school.

“(Dolce) has been here for 30 years,” Lictus said. “In that time she’s built one of the premier band programs in Western New York. She’s brought so much more to her students than just teaching them music, she teaches them to be their best.”

Additionally, Lictus said it really hit him at her last concert the night of May 17 how much the school would be different without her.

“There’s so much I could say,” Lictus said. “It’s not going to be the same without her.”

Following in Dolce’s footsteps, Lictus will also be retiring from the school in October.