Edna M. Licht, a founding member of Temple Sinai, respected educator and three-time president of Denvers Brandeis University Womens Committee, passed away Oct. 5, 2010, in Denver.
Rabbi Steven Foster officiated at the Oct. 8 service held at Temple Emanuel. A private interment service took place at Emanuel Cemetery. Feldman Mortuary made the arrangements.
The family said that Mrs. Licht was sustained in recent years by Mirella Schreiber of JFS, companions Evelyn Rose, Deborah Porter and Freda Darden, the staff of Beth Nehamah Hospice, neighbors Betty and John Dyer and friends Edith Kern, Betty Naster and the Labe family.
They enabled her to live independently and to end her days peacefully at home.
Edna Morris was born May 4, 1919, in New York, NY, and graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn.
She married Edwin Leonard Licht in January, 1938.
The couple moved to Denver in 1945. Read the IJN eulogy
Mrs. Licht, a Phi Beta Kappa, received her BA and MA from DU and did post-graduate work at CU and Monmouth College in Illinois.
A first- and second-grade teacher at Wyatt and Park Hill Elementary schools, she was a pioneer in teaching children how to read.
Mrs. Licht became the reading supervisor for grades K-12 for Denver Public Schools and wrote the guides for the districts reading program.
Author of a reading series published by Ginn and Co., she worked tirelessly with other teachers to successfully educate Denvers children.
At the same time, Mrs. Licht served as assistant director and teacher in Temple Emanuels religious school and was a founding member of and teacher at Temple Sinai.
After retiring in 1979, she ran the blood donor program at Rose Medical Center, 1980-1988.
Mrs. Licht, who served three terms as president of Brandeis Women and belonged to the national board, was a unit leader for the League of Women Voters and active in a Great Decisions group.
Following a 1984 trip to Israel that included a visit to Hadassah Hospital, she joined the Denver chapter of Hadassah and served on the board.
She was honored by both Brandeis Women and Hadassah.
Mr. Licht passed away on Sept. 8, 1995.
Mrs. Licht is survived by two daughters, Alice (Jeffrey) Frankel of Cascais, Portugal, and Jane Licht Siegel of Pittsburgh, Pa.; and granddaughter Rebekah Eve Siegel of Pittsburgh.
Contributions may be made to Temple Emanuel or Beth Nehamah Hospice.
Copyright © 2010 by the Intermountain Jewish News
