ESTELLA MUNSON ELESH

ELESH

ESTELLA MUNSON, of Merion Station PA, passed away on August 11, 2013. She leaves her beloved husband, David; son, Benjamin; brothers, Calvin and Douglas; brother-in-law, James; sisters-in-law, Mary, Pamela, and Ivania; and cousins, nieces, nephews and wonderful friends she adored.
She was a gifted musician, teacher and artist. After graduating from New England Conservatory of Music in 1962, she appeared in leading roles on and off Broadway, on Broadway tours, and in regional theater in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and musicals in the 1960s and 1970s. She also toured in leading roles with the famed Goldovsky Opera Theater. In the 1980s, she retired from performance and directed and wrote plays for elementary school students, gradually expanding to the direction of high school drama.
In the early 1990s, she obtained her M.Ed. from Temple Univer-sity and began a teaching career. She taught at every level from elementary school to university. An extraordinarily gifted teacher, she had a remarkable ability to reach students and she went to great lengths to do so. She always saw the possibilities of good in everyone, and she truly believ-ed everyone had something positive to contribute. She often had students she had taught or had directed in a play meet her as adults and speak to her about how much she meant to their lives. In recent years, she turned to art and Philadelphia's Muse Gallery chose her paper mache and wood ladder constructions for an exhibition in 2011.
There will not be a Funeral. A celebration of her life will be announced later. In lieu of flowers or donations, she would have urged those who cherish-ed her to write their state representatives and senators demanding an increase in funding to improve K-12 public education, especially in less affluent districts.