Page 9 - November Newsletter
P. 9

News from Our Alumnae

By Dorothy G. Kapenstein

Sondra (Sunny) Brown Bruskin              Distinguished Daughters program for
(June 1946) went to her eternal rest      many years. In 1999, we presented
on October 7, 2016. She was the           Sunny with the Alumnae Award of
daughter of Henry and Anna Brown.         Service. Sunny is survived by her
She was born and raised in the            husband Sidney, her sons Eric and
Juniata section of this city. At GHS,     David, and her beloved grandson
she was an excellent student and          Benny. The Bruskin family has
took part in many school activities.      named the GHS Alumnae Association
After graduation, she went on to          of the Philadelphia High School for
higher education at Temple                Girls as a recipient of donations in
University. She earned her B.S.           her honor. Donations may be sent to
degree in Elementary Education in         our post office box: Alumnae
1950 and taught every subject and         Association of the Philadelphia High
every grade in this area in the           School for Girls PO, Box 845, Mount
Philadelphia public schools. She was      Laurel, NJ 08054-0845. Donors can
a talented musician who played the        also pay online by going to our
piano and the organ and gave private      website at www.ghsalumnae.org
lessons on them. Later in her career,
she worked as Music Consultant in         Laurie Barron (June 1966) has sent
Public School District 8, where she       us this letter about the class reunion:
coached teachers and trained young
students for public performance. She      “I'm just recovering from a most
received an M.A. in English from          exciting three-day 50th reunion
Temple in 1954. She taught English        celebration. We began with a Friday
Literature and Composition in Temple      afternoon tour of the school, followed
University's Evening Division for         by a cocktail reception in the
several years. Sunny was a graduate       evening. Saturday was the
of Gratz Jewish High School and           centerpiece of the weekend, as 163
taught Hebrew Sunday school in            classmates gathered in the Grand
addition to public school. Sunny was      Ballroom of the Bellevue for our
a true and loving daughter of her         luncheon, with 210 alumnae
alma mater. She was elected as a          members of Treble Clef
Director of the Alumnae Association       performing. Saturday evening, 20 of
in 1990. She served on many               us attended the opening concert of
committees and later chaired several      the Philadelphia Orchestra, while
committees. She was the                   many others enjoyed a jazz concert
chairperson of the Annual                 at the Painted Bride. We chartered a
Meeting/Luncheon in 1993 and 1994.        Mural Arts tour on Sunday, and some
She served as President from 1994 to      of us followed that with a viewing of
1998. She was a motivating force in       N.C. Heikin's (210) documentary,
helping to plan the events of the         ’The Sound of Redemption.’ Thanks
Sesquicentennial Anniversary of our       to the generosity of my classmates,
school. She was Chair of the              we raised over $18,000 for the

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