Miss Mary Ellen Lewis, Prominent Educator, Dies

Miss Mary Ellen Lewis, 74, of 2222 Fuller Rd., Ann Arbor school teacher for 38 years and past president of the Michigan Education Association (MEA), died Sunday at the Chelsea Medical Clinic after a long illness. Arrangements for memorial services by the Staffan Funeral Home of Ann Arbor are incomplete pending arrival of a cousin from Hillsdale later today. She donated her body to the University's Medical Center. Miss Lewis retired in 1961 after teaching at Ann Arbor's Jones and Perry Elementary Schools, Tappan Junior High School, and Pioneer High School. At the time of her retirement she was a student counselor and coordinator of the student exchange program at the high school, Active in local, state, national and world professional organizations, she was I appointed to the State Tenure Board by former Gov. Kelly I in 1946, and in 1947 was ed the first teacher president of the MEA. She was a past president of the Ann Arbor Teachers Club, and was among those considered for appointment as state superintendent of public instruction in 1948. She had served as a member of the executive committee of the Michigan Schoolmaster's Club and past president of the Ann Arbor Business and Professional Women's Club. One of the top awards presented a graduating Pioneer High School senior girl each year at commencement is the Mary Ellen Lewis Humanitarian Service Award il for "altruistic attitude toward her classmates, high moral character, outstanding dependability and service above self." Miss Lewis had been active in the National Education Association, the Michigan State Counselor Association, the American Personnel and Guidance Association and other such groups. She served I as a director of the local I vation Army, was a member I of he Ann Arbor Citizens Council, the Zonta Club, the Washtenaw Council of Churches, the Ann Arbor ie Symphony and the League of Women Voters. In 1968, she and the Rev. Henry Lewis, former rector of St. Andrews Episcopal Church, were named Ann Arbor's "Senior Citizens of the Year." In recent years I I she had been active in the II "People-to-People" program. f i For many years she was I I associated with the Youth for I I Understanding Teen - Age I I exchange program, and was I I coördinator of the program in I I the British Isles, supervising I I visits of Michigan students in I I England, Ireland and I "I land. She participated in the I I UNESCO Institute in I I sailles, France, in 1947, and I Í the World Confederation of I 'I the Teaching Profession in I il Glasgow, Scotland, the same I I year. Miss Lewis was born on I I Sept. 28, 1896, in Grand I I ids. She was graduated f rom I I Eastern Michigan University, I I and received her master's I I degree in guidance and I I secondary education f r o m I I Columbia University. S h e I H also had studied at the U-M, I H Western Michigan University I I and Hillsdale College. In 1947 I I she received an honorary I I master's degree from EMU. I H Survivors include severall B cousins. iiiMBM