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Category Archives: Education
American Samoa’s former First Lady, teacher Susana Lutali
Former First Lady of American Samoa Susana Lutali once taught at Fagaitua Elementary School. Photo Credit: Marion Malena
Many a fine classroom teacher has also earn fame as a celebrity. This is true of Susana Lutali, an elementary school teacher in American Samoa who became the territory’s First Lady.
Susana Legato was born May 23, 1932, in Fagaitua, American Samoa. Fagaitua is a village located on the south coast of American Samoa’s Tutuila Island. She attended St. Francis Sister School and then studied at Teachers Institute. As a young woman in the early 1950’s, she became a teacher at Fagaitua Elementary School.
In 1954, Susana married A.P. Lutali, a former teacher and public school administrator. When A.P. was elected Governor of the territory in 1985, and then re-elected in 1989, the she became American Samoa’s First Lady. She was also during her husband’s re-election, from 1993 to 1997. In her role as First Lady, the former teacher led the way for numerous landscape beautification programs throughout the island. She established committees of women who planted new trees and ornamental shrubs along the roadsides, and many of those originally planted can found found throughout the territory today. She also initiated many renovations to the Governor’s Mansion, called Maugaoali’i, and operating the governor’s residence in high style. Susana became known for her elegant manner of dress, from her beautifully coifed hair to her tailored puletasis, a traditional outfit worn by Samoan women, which she wore in nearly every public appearance while she served as First Lady.
Sadly, Susana Lutani was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the uterus in 2011. She succumbed to the disease on June 15, 2012. She was 80 years old. Her funeral was held at St. Paul’s Catholic Church and was buried next to her husband at their family compound in Illiili, American Samoa, on June 29, 2012.
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Herbert Parmat of NYC was also a successful author of presidential biographies
High school social studies teacher and college professor Herbert Parmat earned acclaim as the author of many well-received biographies of American presidents. Photo Credit: The Portal to Texas History
Many talented educators have earned acclaim as accomplished authors. One of these is Herbert Parmat, a high school social studies teacher and historian who wrote many well-received biographies of American presidents. In fact, he has been described as a major historian of the American presidency and politics.
Herbert was born on Aug. 28, 1929, in New York City, the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. As a youngster, he attended DeWitt Clinton High School in New York, graduating in 1948. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at State University of New York, Oswego, in 1951, and his Master’s degree from Queens College in 1957. During these years, Herbert also completed a stint in the US Army, where he served from 1952 to 1954, achieving the rank of Corporal.
In the 1960s, Herbert taught social studies at North Babylon High School in Long Island, and then at Mineola High School in Mineola in Long Island. At Mineola, he served as the school’s Social Studies Department. He also taught history courses at the Graduate Center of City University of New York and at Queensborough Community College. By all accounts, Herbert was an outstanding classroom teacher, dynamic and charismatic. When he retired in 1995, the former high school teacher was named a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.
While teaching at Mineola, Herbert decided to tackle a writing project with colleague Marie B. Hecht. The pair authored their first biography, Aaron Burr: Portrait of an Ambitious·Man (1967). Together, they also wrote Never Again: A President Runsfor a Third Term: Roosevelt versus Wi/lkie, 1940 (1968). This was followed by a pioneering biography, Eisenhower and the American Crusades (1972). Next, Herbert wrote The Democrats: The Years After FDR (1976). In a return to the biography genre, he authored Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy (1980) and JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy (1983). Next, he penned the biographies Richard Nixon and His America (1990) and George Bush: The Life of a Lone Star Yankee (1997). His later works were Presidential Power from the New Deal to the New Right (2002) and a return to an earlier biographical subject in Richard M. Nixon: An American Enigma (2008).
This outstanding educator passed away on Jan. 25, 2017, in Newton, Massachusetts. He was 87 years old. To read more about Herbert Parmat, click on this link to History News Network.
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Alabama’s Catharine Brown: Cherokee teacher and author
Alabama’s Catharine Brown, a Cherokee who, during the early 19th century, worked as a missionary teacher, also became a celebrated author. Her memoirs were widely distributed and immensely popular.
There are many examples of Native Americans who became teachers and leaders in their community. Some have also become celebrated authors. One of these was Catharine Brown, a Cherokee who, during the early 19th century, worked as a missionary teacher and writer.
Catherine was born at the turn of the century, circa 1800, in a small village in Cherokee Indian Territory, Alabama, approximately 25 miles southeast of the Tennessee River. Her parents, Yau-nu-gung-yah-ski (“Drowned by a Bear”), known by Westerners as John Brown, and Tsa-luh, known as Sarah, held a place of prominence in their tribe.
As a young girl of about 17, Catharine attended the Brainerd Missionary School. Her progress there was impressive. In only three months, she learned to read the Bible in the English language. Then she became a tutor to younger students in the school. May 1820, Catharine accepted a position as a teacher at a school for Native Americans established at Creek Path, her home town. The school opened with 20 students, but enrollment continued to grow, as both children and their parents were eager to learn.
In 1821, Catharine left the school to nurse her brother John, who had contracted tuberculosis. Unfortunately, he did not survive. Soon after he died, Catharine began to show symptoms of the deadly disease. By 1823, her condition was so serious that she was transported by canoe to the home of a missionary doctor. But, sadly, she died on July 18, 1823. She was not older than 23.
One year after her passing, Catherine’s biography was published. The volume, entitled Memoir of Catharine Brown, A Christian Indian of the Cherokee Nation, was widely distributed and became immensely popular. Largely forgotten in the following centuries, Catharine Brown has recently been rediscovered as an influential Native American leader and writer. You can find her memoir on amazon.
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Teacher Gertrude Chandler Warner authored The Boxcar Children Mysteries
Gertrude Chandler Warner of Connecticut was an elementary school teacher who became famous for writing The Boxcar Children Mysteries. Photo credit: Gertrude Warner Museum
There are many talented classroom teachers who have also made a name for themselves as popular authors. One of these is Gertrude Chandler Warner of Connecticut, an elementary school teacher who became famous for writing the children’s stories known as The Boxcar Children Mysteries.
Gertrude was born on April 16, 1890, in Putnam, Connecticut. She decided at a very young age that she wanted to be an author. From the age of five, she wrote stories for her grandfather, and each Christmas she gifted one of these stories to him. As a youngster, Gertrude suffered from frequent illnesses, and for this reason she never finished high school. In her sophomore year, she completed her secondary education with the assistance of a tutor.
In 1918, when World War I was in full swing, Gertrude was hired to teach first grade, primarily because many men teachers were being called to serve in the military. The position served to be a good fit for Gertrude, who continued to teach until 1950. During these years, she spent her summers completing education courses at Yale University.
All her life, Gertrude was a nature-lover. As a child, she developed butterfly and moth collections, pressed wild flowers, learned about the birds in her area, and tended a garden. She incorporated these interests in her classroom lessons, and she also developed nature themes in her books.
In 1924, while convalescing at home from a lengthy illness, Gertrude developed the idea for a children’s book. This is how she came to write the first installment of The Boxcar Children. The story was published by Rand McNally and Company in 1924. Not only did Gertrude write the original story, but she also wrote the next 18 books in the series.
After her retirement from the classroom, Gertrude became a volunteer for the American Red Cross, the Connecticut Cancer Society, and other community service organizations. This talented educator and author passed away on August, 20, 1979, at the age of 89. She is interred at Grove Street Cemetery in her home town of Putnam, Connecticut.
To learn more about Gertrude Chandler Warner, click on this link to The Boxcar Children Museum.
