Marilyn Jarin Hindin, retired high school teacher, political activist, and lifelong Phillies fan, has died at 101
She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Temple in her 40s and went to Phillies World Series games in her 80s. “She was a Renaissance woman who led an incredibly rich life,” her daughter said.
Marilyn Jarin Hindin, 101, of Penn Valley, retired teacher at Philadelphia High School for Girls, longtime political activist, dedicated Jewish congregant, and lifelong Phillies fan, died Friday, April 5, of heart failure at her home.
Born May, 27, 1922, in Philadelphia, Mrs. Hindin tuned in to Phillies games when they were first broadcast on the radio in the 1920s. She met former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt at City Hall in the 1950s and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Temple University in the 1960s.
She served as a Democratic committeewoman in Montgomery County for 30 years and was close to former Gov. Ed Rendell and other politicians. Over the years, she also managed to meet President Joe Biden and former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.
She taught history, social studies, and economics at Girls’ High from 1968 to 1988, and former students recall her guiding them through the turbulent 1970s and ‘80s both in and outside the classroom. She reveled in Philadelphia’s diversity and history, and wrote about its political reform movement of the 1950s for her master’s thesis at Temple.
“She was a real intellectual and good at talking with anyone about public affairs and life,” said her son, Ken. “She was a teacher all the way through.”
Mrs. Hindin went to countless Phillies games at four different ball parks and was thrilled to have lunch with Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt a few years ago. She knew most of the players by name, and when the losses piled up season after season, she liked to say: “They better get a team psychologist.”
Her grandparents and parents owned Malerman’s Hebrew Bookstore in Philadelphia, and Mrs. Hindin helped establish Temple Beth Tikvah in Erdenheim in 1958. Later, she traveled to synagogues and ancient sites around the world, and, among other adventures, had Shabbat dinner with a rabbi in Morocco.
She was married two times and told her family: “I was lucky to have loved twice.” She went to a Phillies game on her first honeymoon and to every continent except Antarctica with her second husband. “She always had a pretty smile and a good story to share,” a friend said in an online tribute.
She made many of her own clothes in the 1930s and ‘40s and put off going to college to work as a draftswoman for a manufacturing firm during World War II. “She had an impressive inner strength and tenacity,” said her daughter Diane. Her son said: “She was fearless.”
Marilyn Malerman grew up in the Logan section of Philadelphia and graduated from Simon Gratz High School in 1941. She met fellow Gratz graduate Harold Jarin on a blind date, and they married in 1943, and had son Ken and daughters Suzanne and Diane.
The family settled in Oreland after the war, and she was active at the nearby swim club and with the local Democratic Party. She took her children on memorable trips to the city, Jersey Shore, and elsewhere. She supported women’s rights and civil rights, and met with friends every month for what they called the Discussion Group.
Her husband died in 1973, and she met Eugene Hindin through friends in 1979. They married in 1980 and moved to Penn Valley. Together, they journeyed around the world, hosted lovely family dinners, and enjoyed time with her children and grandchildren. He died in 2011.
Mrs. Hindin liked to swim and play golf. She took ballet and yoga classes, and drove into her mid-90s. “She was a role model for the young women she taught and for her contemporaries, as well,” said her daughter Suzanne.
She painted and tended flower gardens, went to the Philadelphia Orchestra, and served on the board at Settlement Music School. She worked as a poll watcher until recently and routinely scored high on the weekly news quiz in the New York Times.
“She was nothing short of amazing,” a friend said in an online tribute. Other friends called her “humble, kind, and witty” and noted her “curiosity, vigor and cheerful friendliness.”
“The world,” a friend said, “was a better place with her in it.”
In addition to her children, Mrs. Hindin is survived by five grandchildren, a great-grandson, and other relatives. A granddaughter and sister died earlier.
Services were held on April 9.
Donations in her name may be made to the Harold C. Jarin and Marilyn Jarin Hindin Library Fund at Temple University, 1900 N. 13th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19122; and the Valerie Zukin Memorial Fellowship, c/o California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, 1999 Harrison St., Suite 1800, Oakland, Calif. 94612.