Glenna Wilkoff's Obituary
Glenna Wilkoff (nee Mallace), 87, of Beachwood, Ohio, passed away on October 25, 2017, following a brief illness. Born in 1930, Glenna grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from New York University in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science from the School of Education. She also married Harvey in 1950, her husband of 53 years, who predeceased her in 2004. Glenna and Harvey lived in many places during the course of their marriage before settling in Cleveland in the late 1960s. They were residents of Chesterland for more than 30 years. Glenna also lived at Wiggins Place and Stone Gardens for the last nine years. Glenna and Harvey loved to travel and took their RV across Canada and the U.S. for months at a time. They also visited Portugal and Israel, among other countries.
Glenna, always the consummate teacher, spent most of her career teaching science in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. She also taught education courses at the college level. She received her M.Ed. from Kent State University in 1978. Glenna was a very accomplished teacher and was recognized by the City of Cleveland in 1984 for “Excellence in Performance Plus” as a teacher in the Collinwood and East Clusters of the Cleveland Public Schools. According to Evelyn Pennington, her principal at Margaret Spellacy Junior High School, “Under Mrs. Wilkoff’s direction, the Science Department has been revitalized and restructured. She devised special learning situations that expands learning to the outside world.” In the same year, she received the Excellent Science Teacher Award from the National Science Foundation at Notre Dame College. The Cleveland Public Schools also awarded her Special Recognition in Science Education in 1993. Glenna was also recognized by the Jennings Foundation as a Jennings Scholar in 1981.
However, Glenna considered, “bringing up four wonderful, honest, giving, concerned people” her greatest accomplishment. She is survived by her sister, Barbara Heit; her children, Bruce (Ellyn) Wilkoff, Louise (Jeff) Dinsmore, Jonathan (Diane) Wilkoff, Ross (Diane) Wilkoff; her grandchildren, Jacob (Margaret) Wilkoff, Ben (Kara) Wilkoff, Ephram (Kay) Wilkoff, Rose Dinsmore, Leslie Dinsmore, Shawn Wilkoff, Anna, Solomon, Dalia, Yael Wilkoff and five great-grandchildren.
Glenna was active in scouting, the Rugged Ruffians and PC User’s Group. She was a founding member of Congregation Shir Shalom in Bainbridge.
Funeral Services will be held October 26, 2017, at Hillcrest Chapel, 26200 Aurora Road, Bedford Heights, 44146 at 2:00 p.m. Internment in will follow at Mount Olive Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Menorah Park.
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