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Bernice Cohen Obituary

BERNICE G. COHEN, 81 ; Hyde Park English teacher, curriculum writer Chicago Tribune; Chicago, Ill.; Nov 8, 2001; Crystal Yednak, Tribune staff reporter;

Abstract:
Mrs. Cohen, 81, an educator who spent years teaching at Hyde Park High School before moving
on to write and edit for Chicago Public Schools curriculum developers, died Thursday, Nov. 1,
in Chandler Hall nursing home in Newtown, Pa., of complications from a stroke.

Full Text:
(Copyright 2001 by the Chicago Tribune)

Inspired by literature and a love of learning, Bernice G. Cohen sought to open the minds of both
advanced and remedial students in Hyde Park to new ways of thinking.

"She wanted to give them an appreciation for what she loved about literature and the language,"
her daughter, Barbara Pollack, said.

Mrs. Cohen, 81, an educator who spent years teaching at Hyde Park High School before moving
on to write and edit for Chicago Public Schools curriculum developers, died Thursday, Nov. 1,
in Chandler Hall nursing home in Newtown, Pa., of complications from a stroke.  Born in Hyde Park, Mrs. Cohen attended Hyde Park High, where she worked on the school newspaper. She went to the University of Chicago and fell in love with its environment.  Marion Stone, who met Mrs. Cohen during their freshman year on campus, said her friend was inspired to teach English by her mentor, Norman Maclean, author of the novel "A River Runs Through It."

Mrs. Cohen graduated in 1942 with bachelor's and master's degrees in English. While working
on her master's, she read a letter to the editor in a newspaper from soldiers in the South Pacific
who complained that nobody wrote to them. She started a pen pal relationship with a soldier
named Sydney Cohen. They got married in 1946 after he returned from the service.
After working two years as an instructor at Roosevelt University, Mrs. Cohen took a few years
off to raise her two children. In 1954, she began teaching English at Hyde Park High.  "Hyde Park was a dream world for her," said her son, Laurence. She was fascinated by the area's transformation as it became more racially and economically diverse.

"Her attitude was that most of the new students were much more sophisticated about life in the
real world than she was," her son said. Mrs. Cohen also was advisor for the student newspaper at which she had worked as a teen. In 1966 she won the John Hay Fellowship, which gave her a year to return to the University of Chicago to study. In 1973 she moved to the administrative offices of Chicago Public Schools, working as an editor for the department of curriculum. She turned curriculum plans into prose that could be read by teachers across the city "so people could take the
plans and actually use them," her son said.

Survivors also include a grandson. Services have been held.

Bernice G. Cohen

Bernice G. Cohen, nee Glickson, beloved wife of the late Sydney; loving mother of Barbara (Steven) Pollack and Laurence (Janice Udesen) Cohen; adored grandmother of Benjamin Pollack.
Former Editor-Coordinator, Dept. of Curriculum, Chicago Board of Education; English Teacher and Student Newspaper Faculty Advisor, Hyde Park High School. Interment King David Memorial Park, Bensalem, PA.