PASSINGS

KIT PASSINGS

SIMBA LION ’97* Simba Lion passed away on December 1, 2019, at the age of 40. He attended Roeper in middle school with the name Steven Hopps.

DEBRA KOVACH ’88 We recently learned of Debra’s passing back in January of 2011. Debra’s obituary shared that she faced her illness with a courageous spirit admired by all who knew her and loved her.

LINDA (ANDERSON) WYLLIE Linda was the Upper School French teacher from 1969 – 1983 and 1985 – 1986. She passed away at age 73 after battling a long illness. Linda also briefly taught at the French Institute of Michigan in Bloomfield Hills and ran after-school French programs at local elementary schools as well. Her knack for teaching led her to tutor both children and young adults in French.

She enjoyed playing the piano, sketching, gardening, nature and reading. Linda also enjoyed traveling to the family cabin in Boyne Falls, where she could bird watch, hike and enjoy nature.

ADELE B. GRINSTEIN Adele passed away a week before Thanksgiving at the age of 99. She was one of the school’s earliest teachers, and she and her husband, the psychoanalyst Dr. Alexander Grinstein, were close friends of George and Annemarie. Adele started teaching in the Nursery School in 1944, when the school was still located on Pallister Avenue, and left in 1948 when her first son was born. She went on to have a long and notable career as a child psychologist. Her second son, Richard Grinstein, was a student at Roeper through second grade.

BARBARA BARTZ

16 Barbara passed away from complications due to influenza B on January 5 th in Pompano Beach, Florida, where she lived with her life-long love and partner Rick McKenzie. Above all Barbara was an educator. She fully believed in the Roepers’ teaching philosophy and felt at home at the school. Actually, she didn’t describe Roeper as a job but as “entering another community” and, indeed, she spent two decades of her life there. She began as a grade-school teacher in 1969 and later was assistant to Annemarie and Lower School Director Pam Dart. She was also Middle School Director. After retiring from Roeper in 1988, she taught English at Wayne County Community College. After retiring (a second time), she and Rick joined Pompano Proud, a civic beautification organization, where she quickly became president. In addition, Barbara and Rick regularly volunteered at Fern Forest and The Bonnet House. Barbara was modest but generous, determined but gracious, and she lived life on her own terms — values she hoped to pass on to her students.