Angelene Kasza

October 10, 1921 - November 15, 2014 Angelene Kasza, a career teacher and principal in Los Angeles City Schools, passed away in her home on Saturday, November 15, after a short struggle with leukemia. Born on October 10, 1921, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, she moved to Los Angeles in 1922. She graduated from Catholic Girls High School in 1936 at the extraordinarily young age of 15, and then attended Immaculate Heart College, where she graduated in 1940. In 1946, Angelene married William Kasza, who would become an art professor at California State University at Northridge, and she later earned a master's degree in education from UCLA. Angelene's first teaching post was in Pomona, where she taught migrant farm workers from kindergarten through sixth grade in a one-room school house. After several years of teaching, she became the first principal of Knollwood Elementary School in Granada Hills, and then served for many years as the principal of Norwood Elementary School in downtown Los Angeles. She was an innovative educator in the field of bilingual education. Although Angelene retired at the age of 72, she was rehired to help mentor young teachers and continued to work in that capacity into her 80s. Angelene was active in Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, the Arts Council of California State University at Northridge, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. She is survived by her son Gregory, daughter Toni, and four beloved grandsons as well as two older brothers, Jim and John. Services will be held at Our Lady of Lourdes in Northridge at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 25, with a vigil service the night before from 4:30 at Bastian and Perrott Mortuary on Parthenia St. in Northridge.