Marilouise H. James, retired longtime schoolteacher and home and school visitor, has died at 101
Beginning in the late 1940s, she taught English and social studies at the old Sulzberger Middle School, Audenried Junior High School, and Northeast High School.
Marilouise H. James, 101, formerly of Willingboro, a retired English and social studies teacher for the Philadelphia School District, certified home and school visitor, 80-year member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., mentor, and volunteer, died Friday, Feb. 13, of age-associated decline at the Masonic Village retirement community in Burlington.
Naturally empathetic and energetic, Mrs. James was skilled at spelling, language, and assisting students in school and families at home. Beginning in the late 1940s, she taught English and social studies at the old Sulzberger Middle School in West Philadelphia, social studies at Audenried Junior High School in South Philadelphia, and English at Northeast High School.
She appreciated the beauty and nuances of the French language as a girl and earned second place in a statewide spelling bee in Delaware. Later, when she saw that students at Sulzberger had no French Club, she started one.
“She was one of a kind,” said her niece Sonya Thompson. “Big smile. Big laughter. Big heart.”
Mrs. James earned a bachelor’s degree in French at Temple University, a master’s degree in counseling at Antioch University, and teaching certifications in English, French, social studies, home and school visiting, and guidance counseling.
When her children came along in the 1950s, she left the classroom and, as a school district home and school support expert, managed difficult situations regarding student truancy and behavior, and crisis intervention at homes. She retired in the late 1980s.
“She was the easiest person to talk to,” said her daughter Lisa James-Beavers. “She was warm and never judgmental. She made you feel like she always knew you.”
Mrs. James was an active mentor in Alpha Kappa Alpha for 80 years, and her sorority sisters threw a 101st birthday party for her last August. She was a charter member of the Gamma Epsilon chapter in Philadelphia in 1945, moved to the Theta Pi Omega chapter in South Jersey in 1969, and served as its vice president, secretary, assistant secretary, treasurer, and in other roles.
“If anyone ever needed a smile, Soror Marilouise was always there ready to share one,” a friend said on Facebook.
She also joined the Sickle Cell Anemia Resources Board and the Board of the Black Adoption Consortium. She belonged to the Rancocas Valley chapter of the Links Inc. and was a charter member of the Burlington-Willingboro chapter of Jack and Jill of America Inc.
She volunteered as a patient representative at what is now Virtua Willingboro Hospital and as a library assistant at Twin Hills Elementary School. “She was a walking, talking breath of fresh air,” her niece said. “She taught all of us that kindness matters. She always said, ‘I am doing the best I can for as long as I can.’”
Friends called her “a radiant inspiration and a true joy” and “a beautiful phenomenal woman” in online tributes. Her family said: “She did not simply experience joy. She created it. She carried it into every room, poured it into every relationship, and planted it in the hearts of all who knew her.”
Marilouise Holland was born Aug. 23, 1924, in Milford, Del. She grew up in Wilmington and graduated from Howard High School at 16 after skipping two grades.
She met Raymond James in Philadelphia, and they married in 1953. They had a son, Dennis, and daughters Shelley and Lisa, and lived in Lansdowne before moving to Willingboro in 1969. Her husband died in 1979.
Mrs. James was fun and funny, her family said. She had an infectious laugh, loved shopping, and was, they said, “always stylish from head to toe.”
She enjoyed hosting her family for reunions. Her niece said: “Her hospitality was off the charts.” Her daughter Lisa said: “She was easy to be around.”
She read often and belonged to a book club. She saw shows at the Walnut Street Theatre for more than 25 years and attended Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Willingboro.
She liked pizza on Friday nights and doughnuts after Sunday Mass. Her family said it was only fitting that she died during Black History Month. Her life, they said, was “a reflection of the barriers she broke and the lasting legacy she carved.”
In addition to her children, Mrs. James is survived by seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, a sister, and other relatives. A sister and a brother died earlier.
Services were held earlier.
Donations in her name may be made to the EAF Theta Pi Omega Chapter Scholarship Fund, Box 2902, Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034.