Ronnie R. Tofield

Ronnie Rose Tofield, pioneering Jewish educator and familiar figure and benefactor at Pomona College, passed away in Claremont, California, on Friday April 13, 2007 at the age of 97. Ronnie Tofield was born in Russia in 1909. She was a graduate of Herzliah Hebrew Teachers College in New Yo rk, had a B. A. in Modern Languages from the University of Tulsa, and did graduate work both at Tulsa and at the University of Southern California. She had teaching experience in Jewish and public schools on all age levels. Notably, she was the first teacher of Hebrew in the Los Angeles public high schools, having taught Hebrew at Fairfax High School, grades ten through twelve, in the 1950s. She was on the faculty of the University of Judaism for many years, where she taught adult Hebrew classes. She joined the staff of the Bureau of Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles in 1944 to introduce the Release Time program for Jewish children in the public schools and later to serve on an experimental program of Home Visiting. In 1947 she joined the staff of Beverly-Fairfax (later to become Westside) Jewish Community Center, first as Hebrew teacher and later as consultant on Jewish education and principal of the Hebrew School. In 1957 - 1959, she accepted the invitation from the Colegio Israelita de Mexico (Mexico City) to head its pre-school department. She rejoined the staff at the L. A. Bureau of Jewish Education in 1959 and served as educational consultant with special assignments in early education and parent involvement programs until her retirement in September 1972. She produced diversified educational materials in Hebrew, English and Yiddish, on various age levels, including songs, games, scripts for record albums, playlets and picture books. She travele d in Europe and Israel and spoke English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, French, Russian, German, and some Arabic, Japanese, Italian and Greek. After her retirement, she moved to Claremont in 1978. She attended classes, mostly language, at Citrus College where she also tutored students. She was long active in Friends of the Claremont Public Library and was a life member. Starting in the 1980s she began attending classes at Pomona College, studying many languages (Russian, Greek, Spanish, French, Hebrew, for instance), and taking courses in Philosophy, Linguistics (at Pitzer with Ronald Macaulay), and Biblical Studies, with such notables as Jerry Irish, Michael McGaha, Jack Abecassis, Monique Saigal, and Fred Sontag. In 2003 she moved into Claremont Place Assisted Living, and in 2005 to Country Villa Claremont Nursing Home. Among the many organizations she generously supported over her lifetime are the Braille Institute of Los Angeles, the YIVO Institute for Yiddish literature, the Friends of the Claremo nt Public Library, and Pomona College. She is survived by her nieces and nephews: Judy Grabiner of Claremont, Daniel Victor of Los Angeles, Rinah Tofield Korenman of Pacific Palisades, Joshua Tofield of Tucson, AZ, Debbie Tofield Rotter of Santa Monica, and Tamar Tofield Goldmann of Costa Mesa; and great-niece Rebecca Grabiner, CHS '93 and great-nephew David Grabiner, CHS '86. One of her professors, Jerry Irish, described her "as absolutely one of a kind, and a blessing to all who knew her." Her nie ce Judy Grabiner said, "Ronnie loved life. She was always learning, she was always teaching. But most of all she loved people." In accordance with her strongly expressed wishes, there will be no funeral. The family will hold a celebration of her life this summer. She wished us, on her behalf, to bid a fond farewell to all who loved her and whom she loved.