Victoria Jean Micu

Victoria Jean Micu
Dec 2, 1938 - March 3, 2017
Resident of Pittsburg
Victoria (Vicky) Micu, 78,  longtime Pittsburg teacher, writer and activist, has died in her home after a lengthy illness. She is survived by her husband, Michael Lengyel; her sister, Audrey Beauchamp; her two sons, Richard and  Michael Beyer, and four grandchildren, Samantha, Jacob, Madeline and Nicholas Beyer.
Born in Pontiac, Michigan to Andres and Retha Micu, she was the oldest of three sisters.  She graduated from Pontiac High School, where she was on the fencing team, and from Michigan State University before moving to Pittsburg in 1965. In her nearly 40-year career as a teacher, she taught in various elementary schools in Pittsburg, including Highlands, Heights, Village and Willow Cove. She was Teacher of the Year for the Pittsburg Unified School District in 2003.
 Ms. Micu  was a passionate supporter of women's rights, public education, peace and the environment. In earlier years, she was active in the old Pittsburg Federation of Teachers and  went on an Outward Bound wilderness survival trek with other women to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota.
A member of the Writer's Bloc writing group in the Oakland area for many years, she worked on completing a dramatized account of the life of her father, sisters and the Filipino community in Pontiac and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the World War II era. Several of her poems were published in the Wild Iris, a feminist journal, in the 1970s when she was active in Asian-American and Bay Area literary circles.
She attended  the opera and symphony  in San Francisco for many years and once sang in performances of Handel's "Messiah" in Pittsburg. She enjoyed reading books, playing Bridge and Scrabble and doing cross-word puzzles.  She had a habit of rescuing baby birds fallen from the nest and lost kittens near her home. She said she remembered her approximately 1,200 local students and sometimes was greeted on the streets years later by former students. 
A memorial service will be held Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 11am at the Hampton Inn, 1201 California Ave., Pittsburg. She would welcome contributions in her memory to the Sierra Club , PETA, Greenpeace or Amnesty International.


View the online memorial for Victoria Jean Micu