Dr. Mary Vallas Posner, PhD, whose beauty holds the depths of centuries, was a Greek warrior angel, very invested in sharing kindness and an enthusiasm for life’s intricacies, patterns, surprises and individual meaning. She had a passion for teaching and the arts, particularly jazz, singing, poetry, literature, painting, myth, cultural and personal stories.
She was a teacher for over thirty years: First at East Lyme High School for one year, then her career continued at Waterford High School, while later she taught classes at Three Rivers Community College and Central CT State University, (CCSU), where she taught into her 80’s. At CCSU Mary created her own course within the English Department: Jazz and Literature, which she taught up until her retirement. She also began taking on the task of raising money to have well-known jazz bands play a concert, as part of her course, at the end of the semester, for all to come and enjoy, for free.
At Waterford High, Mary taught James Joyce, Alice In Wonderland-Through the Looking Glass and Homer’s The Iliad, an epic poem about Greek heroes, relationships and Greek tragedy. Her passion for language, personal and familial stories, carried her interests to encouraging her students to find expression within their own passions, knowledge, skills and personal stories, leading them through a process of finding their own voice, expressing that voice within English structure, learning skills needed to access and express that knowledge, gaining new knowledge and sharing with each other, in celebration of ownership, belonging and learning about the self and others’ worlds. She did this through a process of what she identified as: Student/Teacher Conferencing, (individual student/teacher time) while setting up smaller groups of students to work with each other on projects during class, coming together, sharing with the whole class. This process she created, she identified, developed and honed further in her Dissertation work.
Mary went for her PhD at NYU in New York CIty, where Lou, her husband, faithfully, would often, bring her, and while waiting for her to finish, he would visit museums or his old music and art buddies, maybe even go play his sax somewhere…happy to see Mary nurturing her own knowledge progression. She wrote her Dissertation on how she taught students: creating that Student/Teacher Conferencing: working to help students access their ability to write about what they knew, even explore identifying what they knew, helping them access what they were feeling and putting all of that into their own words, successfully and efficiently, sharing the best of themselves, with each other, learning. They also shared with the school, at times, when working on personal booklets and other artwork for the Iliad, which she proudly and effectively taught for years at Waterford High School. She even put together a Greek feast at the end of the semester, dressing up, bringing props and music. Mary liked to dance to her Greek heritage music.
She even started an opportunity for her students and some teachers to go to Britain during the Summers. She did this for a number of years, designing a program that included well-known landmarks, expanding their knowledge of the world through conversations and participation, seeing the world they talked about in books. Mary’s nature was inclusionary and she believed in the good of human beings, first, moving from that place, in helping others to shine their own lights of encouragement, exploration and knowledge, working to blossom the whole self, working to get individuals to think with an openness and awareness that traveled their lifetime.
She was a Fellow at Yale’s Morse College and brought Poets, Dancers and artists there to speak and perform. Her time at Bennington College, in Bennington, VT, for her Bachelor’s, was an inspiration, with a special fondness for professors, such as, Bernard Malamud, Writer and Howard Nemerov, Poet. She also talked fondly of the Welch Poet, Dylan Thomas’ visit to the school, and the magic of his voice when he read his poetry—all by heart.
Her husband Lou Posner, who passed early in his life, to us anyway, was an artist: a saxophonist and a painter, as well as working at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, for some twenty years, running their printing/graphics department, meeting all sorts of famous and interesting actors and playwrights. He was also commissioned to do a large painting series on board, of the puppets from Margo and Rufus Rose’s famous puppet characters, hanging at the O’Neill Barn.
Later in their lives, they took their passions on the road: Together, they performed: Mary read her poetry and Lou played his sax, and often Mary sang,—Billie Holiday was her favorite. Mary published two poetry books: Basil, Mountain Laurel and Jazz and Mountains That Talk And Know How To Sing. The latter, was a result of a Fellowship from the Griffis Foundation in New London, CT and from the Orpheus Foundation in Sophia, Bulgaria. She loved the Rhodope Mountains there, and that book’s poems are in both English and Bulgarian. Mary also loved the water, in particular the Niantic Bay and CT River, listening to and observing their rolling conversations, watching nature speak and interact in its motion and stillness.
Mary meant a lot to a lot of people, and she will be dearly missed. She believed she would somehow regather with family and friends and also felt there are many possibilities awaiting…whatever her next journey/s, they will have gained a great alliance.
Forever, your loving and honored friend, daughter and companion. Rebecca
Mary also has a son and another daughter, both who prefer only that identification, as well as two grandchildren: Amelia Rose and George Bennett.
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