Math teacher Josephine Gomon of Detroit, Michigan, was described as one of the most influential women in the city’s history. Photo credit: Bentley Historical Society.

Many talented classroom educators become involved in social causes that improve living conditions for everyone in their communities. One is Josephine Gomon, a mathematics teacher from Detroit, Michigan, who was described as one of the most influential women in the city’s history.

Josephine was born on June 29, 1892, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As a young woman, she attended the University of Michigan, working her way through college as a switch board operator. In 1913, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, an unusual field for a woman of her day.

Josephine inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as a teacher of physics and mathematics at Wayne State University, then known as the College of the City of Detroit. Later, after getting married and having five children, Josephine taught in Detroit city public schools. During those years, she also wrote a regular column about education which was published in The Detroit News.

After two of her close friends died in childbirth, Josephine became actively involved in Detroit’s underground birth control clinics. Later she helped to establish the National Planned Parenthood League, and she became the president of the Detroit Chapter. Josephine was passionate about the welfare of the poor and underprivileged in Detroit, and this passion led to her involvement in politics and to her position as Executive Secretary to Mayor Frank Murphy.

The indefatigable teacher was an activist serving the cause of social justice within the community in many ways. She was a founding member of the ACLU in Michigan, and she worked closely with Clarence Darrow on several Detroit-based civil liberties cases. Later she became an advisor to Franklin Roosevelt. In 1933 Josephine was appointed Secretary Director of the Detroit Housing Commission, where she supervised construction of Detroit’s first public housing projects. During World War II she was named by Henry Ford as the Director of Women Personnel at the Willow Run Bomber Plant. Her success in this position led to her becoming an influencer in organized labor in the area.

Josephine passed away on November 13, 1975, at the age of 83. After her passing, the Detroit Free Press described her as “one of the most influential women in the city’s history.” She was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 1983.

With great sadness we report the passing of Elisa Creacy, a math teacher from Corpus Christi, Texas, who succumbed to Covid -19 on July 30, 2021. Photo credit: Sawyer George Funeral Home, Inc.

With great sadness we report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Elisa Creacy, a high school math teacher from Texas, succumbed to the disease on July 30, 2021. She was just 35 years old.

Elisa was a teacher at Robstown Early Collegiate High School located in Corpus Christ, Texas. Her career there spanned 14 years. “She had a great impact on her students lives, her family, friends,” remembered her father-in-law Mike Creacy. “She was just a wonderful person. To me, she wasn’t my daughter-in-law. She was my second daughter,” he continued. At the high school where Elisa taught, colleagues and students are showing their respect for the beloved educator by planting a tree and holding an assembly in her honor.

Elisa passed away just three weeks after giving birth to her first child, a son she named Elijah, who was born on July 14. Her passing devastates her family, who was already overcoming many challenges. Her husband is disabled, having suffered severe combat injuries while serving in the US military. Elisa’s father is a chaplain for the Corpus Christi Police Department, and her mother is recovering from an organ transplant.

Elisa was born on February 25, 1986, in Huntington Beach, California. She is a graduate of Charleston Southern University in South Carolina. To read more about her, see this obituary published by Sawyer George Funeral Home, Inc.

Math educator Joanne Moldenhauer, originally from Nebraska, garnered many accolades for her work in the classroom. Photo credit: Peter McCollough of the Daily Democrat.

I enjoy sharing stories about talented educators who have earned honors for their work in the classroom. One of these was Joanne Moldenhauer, a high school math teacher originally from Omaha, Nebraska.

Joanne was born on March 15, 1928, in Omaha. As a young girl, she attended Benson High School in her home town. In 1949, Joanne earned her Bachelor’s degree in Physics at Iowa State College. Three years later she completed the requirements for her Master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.

Joanne inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as a math teacher in Omaha. For the next two years she taught mathematics and biology at Central High School in Omaha. She worked for a while for the General Electric company, but by 1955, she was teaching high school math at Central Park Junior High School in Schenectady, New York, and the following year, she was teaching at Davis Senior High School in Davis, California. Her career there spanned 50 years, until her retirement in 2006.

During her years as a teacher in Davis, Joanne won many accolades for her work in the classroom. She garnered the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching from the Mathematical Association of American two times, in 19990 and 2001. Stanford University honored her with their Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Award, given each year to a distinguished high school teacher from the school’s graduating engineering students. She also earned the Harvey Mudd College Distinguished Teacher Award twice. In 1991, Joanne was one of the two first participants in the Uman-Davis Sister City Teacher Exchange in Ukraine.

This exceptional educator passed away on February 14, 2016. She was 87 years old. Joanne Moldenhauer: a true Chalkboard Champion.