Retired educator was teacher-mentor
12/2/2000Mary Kathryn Jablon, a longtime substitute teacher who supervised student teachers from the University of Toledo, died of a heart attack Thursday in her South Toledo home. She was 74.
She had been in ill health the last six months, her daughter, Kathy Braker, said.
Mrs. Jablon had been a regular elementary substitute teacher in the Toledo Public Schools since 1979 and was last able to work in the spring.
She supervised UT education students who were elementary student teachers the last decade, most recently at Holloway Elementary School in Springfield Local schools. She worked earlier at Dorr Street Elementary School, also in the Springfield district, and at Smith Road Elementary School in the Bedford school district, in Monroe County.
“She loved the kids at the elementary level, and she loved watching [student teachers] with the little kids,” her daughter said.
Mrs. Jablon observed student teachers in the classroom and made suggestions for improvement, pointing out their strengths and giving them encouragement, Dr. Herb Sandberg, a retired UT professor of education, said.
“She was highly regarded,” Dr. Sandberg said. “She had genuine concern for students. They were able to perceive this caring.
She was a graduate of St. Ursula Academy and of UT and became a fourth-generation teacher.
She and her husband, Harry, married in 1949, and she stopped teaching regularly to care for her family, although she substituted on occasion, her daughter said.
Mr. Jablon died in February, 1974.
Reading was a passion, her daughter said, and she always had another ready to go.
Surviving are her daughter, Kathy Braker; son, Chris, and three granddaughters.
The body will be in the Coyle Mortuary after 2 p.m. tomorrow, with a Scripture service at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in the mortuary. Funeral services will be at 11:30 a.m. Monday in the Historic Church of St. Patrick.
The family requests tributes to the American Cancer Society or to Central Catholic High School.