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“She was a little cooky, but she was also brilliant. I taught just down the hall from her, and I loved her.” That’s how Myron (Mike) Michaelson described his long-time friend and fellow faculty member Sylvia Wubnig. |
Mrs. Wubnig passed away in late October, just a few months after celebrating her 100th birthday.
Mrs. Wubnig taught English and history at Blair from 1956 until her retirement in 1978. Over the years thousand of Blair students were exposed to her sense of humor, her sense of commitment, and her willingness to speak her mind. “She always had an opinion on everything,” Mr. Michaelson continued, “but she thought them through and made a good case for whatever she believed.”
Peggy McNutt, another of Mrs. Wubnig’s friends and fellow teachers, remembered that when she first came to Blair, some students would confuse the two teachers. “I thought it was strange that students would mistake us for each other, since we didn’t look very much alike,” Mrs. McNutt recalled. “Then I found out what we had in common – both our desks were so messy that the students got us mixed up. But Sylvia was a great teacher, and I hope that today’s students are fortunate enough to have teachers of her quality.”
Mrs. Wubnig was born Sylvia Lipschitz in Brooklyn, N.Y. She graduated in 1930 from New York University with a degree in fine arts, and then received a master’s degree in economics from American University. She also was an adult education teacher at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington for more than 20 years.
After leaving Blair, Mrs. Wubnig volunteered with the Montgomery Literacy Council, teaching English as a second language. She had a long history of activism in community development programs, and was a frequent contributor to community arts organizations.
She and her husband, Arthur Wubnig, (who was an economist) moved to the Washington area in 1939. Before coming to Blair, Mrs. Wubnig was involved in a controversy after advocating contacts between members of black and white civic groups in Washington.
“Blair was such a special place back then,” Mr. Michaelson recalled. “Sylvia and the other faculty members who were there when I started took real pride in the school, and had a sense of ownership of the place. They all supported each other and the school whenever a crisis of any type arose.”
Another of Mrs. Wubnig’s colleagues, Richard Pioli, recalled that “Sylvia was a jolly soul with a cutting wit. She was very intelligent, very cultured, and a true woman of the world. I was Chair of the English Department and the people in our group really loved her, as did many of her students.”
(Editor’s note: Teaching at Blair must be a way to assure a long life. At least four of the teachers from Blair’s “golden era” of the 40’s-60’s – Mrs. Huntley, Miss Bratt, Miss Stickley and Mrs. Wubnig lived well into their nineties or later.)