In memoriam

Montessori Life, Spring 2003

Dr. Elizabeth Caspari

(1899-2002)

The first of four children in her family, Elizabeth Caspari was born September 9, 1899, to Charles Geraz, a pharmacist, and his wife, Pauline Morier, in the French-speaking Alpine village of Chateau d'Oex, Switzerland. Afflicted in childhood by a painful and crippling physical condition, she was determined not to be an invalid. With the help of her father's healing herbs, her mother's devoted care, encouraging scripture and prayer, a vegetarian diet, and other alternative health practices, she overcame her disabilities and went on to live a long and fruitful life. By the age of 30, she had earned a doctoral degree in music and pedagogy, established a successful music school, and married Charles Caspari, an engineer. On a journey to study world religions in Tibet and India 10 years later, the Casparis met and studied with Maria Montessori, teaching in the school in Kodaikanal. A devoted advocate of the Montessori approach forever after, Dr. Caspari came to North America, establishing schools and training teachers in Missouri, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Mexico, where she co-founded the Pan American Montessori Society with Dr. Feland Meadows. After the death of her husband in 1978, she continued to found schools and train teachers, moving from California to Colorado and finally to Montana, co-founding the Caspari Montessori Institute in 1998 with Patrick and Anita Wolberd. Among her many honors was the Maria Montessori Lifetime Achievement Award given in 1994 by the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE). Caspari died at her home in Paradise Valley, MT, on July 11, 2002, leaving hundreds of students and friends throughout the world who have been inspired by her life and adopted her motto: "Love is the Key."

Memorial gifts may be directed to the Elizabeth Caspari Fund, Caspari Montessori Institute, PO Box 657, Livingston, MT 59047.

Lou Valencic

(1928-2002)

A "preemie" who weighed just 3 lbs. at birth, Lou Valencic was the fourth of five children of Slovenian immigrant parents. He grew up during the Depression, fought in the Korean War, and went to college on the GI Bill-the only one of his siblings to graduate. Valencic was an early and steadfast supporter of the American Montessori Society. With a brand new bachelor of science degree under his belt, he decided to attend the first AMS seminar (Greenwich, June 1962)and stayed to complete the next Montessori training course. His complete set of audiotapes of that program were an invaluable contribution to the AMS archives. After 6 years of Montessori teaching (Ruffing Montessori, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Staten Island Montessori), Valencic earned a master's in special education and went to work at Bayonne (NJ) High School. He married Marilyn, the school nurse, and moved to Mountain Lakes, NJ, where his friends and neighbors remember him for the marvelous garden that was his workshop, his classroom, his pantry, and his therapy (Goldsmith, 2002). For more than 30 years, he cultivated a 1,000-sq.-ft. plot bursting in season with peppers, parsley, radishes, string beans, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, corn, and then winter rye. He welcomed neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and children to share in the produce, taught local kids to plant corn rows of their own, and gave away bushels of surplus at his job as a special education teacher in the Boonton schools. Valencic nursed his wife through a long and fatal illness while fighting his own stomach cancer. He died on December 5, 2002, survived by his son, Louis Aloysius, Jr.; his daughter, Donna Watridge; two grandsons; and a sister, Elizabeth Zahler.

Reference

Goldsmith, R. (2002, December 6). Lou Valencic, 74, how his garden did grow. The Star-Ledger.