Blanche Coggins Vetre, 87; directed special education
Blanche Coggins Vetre, 87, of Havertown, retired director of special education for the Upper Darby School District, died of complications of kidney failure Saturday at Bryn Mawr Hospital.
Blanche Coggins Vetre, 87, of Havertown, retired director of special education for the Upper Darby School District, died of complications of kidney failure Saturday at Bryn Mawr Hospital.
In 1951, Mrs. Vetre became the first special-education teacher in the Upper Darby district, with 10 pupils at the Primos Elementary School. When she retired 29 years later, she headed an 84-member staff, including teachers, aides, a speech therapist, and occupational therapists who cared for more than 1,000 children.
A certificate she was given at her retirement in 1980 honored her "great sensitivity to the individual needs of the special child" and her success in "leading parents to recognize and accept their need for help for their children and for themselves."
A graduate of Upper Darby High School, Mrs. Vetre earned a bachelor's degree from West Chester University; a master's degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania; and certificates in special education and school psychology from Temple University.
For three years in the 1940s, she taught second grade at Stonehurst Hills Elementary School in the Upper Darby district and then taught for two years in Florida before returning to the district. After teaching special education for seven years, she became district psychologist in 1958. For 10 years she was special-education coordinator before being appointed director in 1977.
Mrs. Vetre and her husband, R. Daniel Vetre, had a home in Ocean City, N.J., for more than 45 years and loved spending time there, their daughter Elaine said. They also took cruises every year and traveled abroad often.
In addition to her husband and daughter, Mrs. Vetre is survived by a son, Gary; a sister; and a granddaughter.
Friends may call from 7 to 9 p.m. today and from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at Donohue Funeral Home, 8401 West Chester Pike, Upper Darby. A Funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Sacred Heart Church, 105 Wilson Ave., Havertown. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.