If students are lucky, they will go through their educations having encountered at least one teacher who will have left indelibly positive memories — who conveys infectious enthusiasm for a subject or projects a sense of unforced and authentic caring for students.
For several former Milwaukee Jewish Day School students, Judee Ross, 45, the English and literature teacher who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Chicago on July 16, was one of those rare educators who displayed both.
“She was just an amazing teacher, one of my favorites,” said Nili Blanck, who will become a freshman this fall at Homestead High School. “She wasn’t just there for the job. She did it because she loved books, loved writing and loved kids. We could totally feel that.”
Part of what made her memorable was her creativity. Ross was “the one teacher who would always participate in dress-up days,” said Joshua Wallace, who will enter Whitefish Bay High School this fall. “She had exquisite costumes.” He particularly remembers the time she came to school as Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.”
Ross also was known for having students act out scenes from books they read and dress-up as characters from the books after they finished them.
Rebecca Stillman, who will be a junior at Shorewood High School this fall, remembers how her class did that after they finished reading George Orwell’s political allegory and fable “Animal Farm.”
“People dressed not as the animals, but as who they represented, and they did a presentation about that,” said Stillman.
But Ross’s flair for the theatrical did not mean she was more concerned with entertaining her students than with their learning.
“She understood everything and wanted everybody to succeed,” said Wallace. He remembered a test that he had a difficult time with. “She called me to her desk and went through the entire test with me and let me retake it later,” he said. “That was so nice of her. I really wanted to do well.”
And Stillman said, “I definitely know that I am a better writer because of her.” Ross “taught us all the English grammar we learned as freshmen in high school. She could make seventh graders understand high school material. I know that has a positive effect.”
MJDS co-director Rabbi Philip Nadel said that in addition to being an English and literature teacher, she was the “team leader” for the seventh grade. In that capacity, “she was the one who really had the best interest of every seventh grader in mind,” and “she was wonderful in that role.” Her interest in the students “transcended the class period and her subject.”
Nadel said the school will hold some kind of tribute event for Ross during the coming autumn term, but doesn’t know what it will be yet.
Ross, nee Richman, grew up in Northbrook, Ill. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana in 1981. She had worked in hotel management and as an aerobic dance instructor before deciding to enter the field of elementary education.
She was certified in that field by Cardinal Stritch University and worked as a substitute teacher in the Mequon-Thiensville School District before joining the staff of MJDS four years ago.
According to her resume, which was furnished by the school, Ross also performed much volunteer work for the Mequon-Thiensville Education Foundation; the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, where she served three years as vice-president of programming; the Friends of Sinai Samaritan Medical Center, of which she was president for six years; and the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America.
She received a scholarship award from the Mequon Women’s Club, a Leadership Award from the Jewish Community Centers Association and a Heritage Award from Sinai Samaritan Medical Center.
Ross is survived by her husband, Richard Ross; teen-aged children Adam, Justin and Nicki; parents Jerry (Marcia) Richman of Chicago and Phyllis (Merrill) Krieger of Tampa, Fla.; brothers Marc (Patti) Richman of Tampa and Gary (Janice) Richman of Winnetka, Ill.
A funeral service was held at Congregation Shalom on Wednesday. Burial was in Spring Hill Cemetery.
The family would appreciate memorial contributions to MJDS.
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