Dr. Miriam Michael
My Aunt Mimi is my shero. Born the eldest of four children to first generation Americans of Russian Jewish origin, Mimi’s childhood was in a very poor but happy home. An exceptionally bright girl, who developed a life-long love of learning, Mimi skipped grades 3 times and graduated prestigious Hunter College High School in Manhattan at the age of 15. Mimi then attended NYU, at a time when very few women went to college, but left school at age 18, to marry a man 14 years her senior with her parents approval. She explains, “At that time young women were thought to be safer married.” She had her first child Gordon but soon felt bored at home and so arranged for child care so she could finish her education. Five years after Gordon’s birth she had her youngest child Stephen, and she continued on to her Masters degree taking night courses since she had two small children to care for. She majored in music, her first love, but was convinced to change her major to something “more practical”—and she chose psychology. She went on to earn her doctorate in 1953, with her thesis on gestalt psychology. Mimi kept her maiden name on her diploma, and in her career, unusual at the time. She then went on to develop a private therapy practice. Eventually Mimi was divorced from her first husband and married the love of her life, Bert Schoeneman, who became an active father to her growing boys. Mimi and Bert loved adventurous travel. Mimi would scout out places that were beyond the usual tourist zones and they would visit. As a result, Mimi is still in touch with people from all over the world whom she befriended on these visits—many of whom she has helped over the years, by providing needed text books or money for education. She also adopted an Italian foster daughter and helped to educate her and visited with her often on her European trips. Of course, Mimi is always the one in the family that everyone turns to when they need emotional support. She always has compassion coupled with words of wisdom. But Mimi’s greatest legacy was born out of the biggest tragedy of her life, the unexpected death of her younger son Stephen at age 18, as he was driving home from Cornell University where he was a freshman planning on becoming an MD. Despondent and grief stricken, Mimi stopped her therapy practice feeling that she wanted to dedicate her life to something meaningful for children. It was a wonderful social worker at Jewish Family Service Agency, who gave Mimi an idea. She said there was a newly developing understanding that certain children are “neurologically impaired.” These children have a difficult time functioning in regular school, and there was no place geared to educate them. This “neurological impediment” is now called Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). And the idea for The Stephen Gaynor School, named after her beloved lost son, was born. Mimi enrolled the help of her friend Yvette Siegel, rented a 2.5 room apartment in Manhattan and placed a tiny ad in the New York Times offering a school with small classes and individual instruction for these special needs kids. The Stephen Gaynor School started with 6 children in September 1962, within a year of her son’s death. It was, at that time, the only school of its kind. It eventually grew and moved to fill an entire town house, and in 2006 the school moved once again, to a 36,000 square foot facility offering an excellent education to children with learning differences (http://www.stephengaynor.org). It is world renowned for educating these children in a nurturing environment. Many are mainstreamed when they leave at age 14, and then go on to college educations and successful careers. Mimi still volunteers weekly at the school and serves on its board, and her grandson, Dr. Scott Gaynor runs the school—truly a living legacy to an extraordinary woman and a life well lived. Honored by Nicki Michaels |
