OBITUARY: DR. STELLA VIRGINIA PETERSEN (1923-2013)
Dr. Stella Virginia Petersen passed away on 21 November 2013 at the Douglas Murray Home after a long illness, just a month short of her 90th birthday.
She is best remembered as the Biology teacher at Livingstone High school in Claremont, where she taught for 38 years from 1952 to 1999.
Stella enjoys the distinction of being the first black woman to be awarded a Master’s of Science Degree at the University of Cape Town in 1947.
Additional qualifications include a Bachelor of Science Degree with majors in Botany & Zoology obtained in 1944, a Bachelor of Education Degree obtained in 1946 & a Secondary Teachers Training Certificate obtained in 1948, all at the University of Cape Town..
In 1949 she was the first South African to be awarded an International Education Fellowship to study at Syracuse University in the State of New York, where she graduated with a Master’s of Science in Education Degree.
In 2011, Stella received her highest academic accolade, after being awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Education at the University of Cape Town. The citation for the award for the Doctorate, Professor Allison Lewis of the Faculty of Education, describes her as follows:
“She took her role as a teacher very seriously, but also made sure that her lessons were much more than describing the anatomy of a bird or the structure of a leaf. She took on the task of REALLY EDUCATING her students: about their own oppression and the disgrace of apartheid: about the ideals of non-racialism and making a meaningful contribution to their communities, and about themselves as rightful citizens of the world”
“Stella Petersen’s teaching was truly a subversive activity. Where the curriculum was intended to crush & oppress, she subverted it to liberate: where it was narrow & constrained, she broadened and expanded: where it was intended to keep her students uninformed, she subverted it to enlighten & illuminate.”
Stella was born on 20 December 1923 in Brentwood Road in Wynberg to David Jacobs& Christine Meyer, the second of four siblings. She attended Battswood Primary School in Wynberg & passed her Senior Certificate at Livingstone High in 1941.
It is significant that despite her being overqualified to teach at Livingstone, Stella made teaching at Livingstone the primary mission of her professional career. She was a leading member of a generation of teachers who, whilst upholding high levels of professionalism with respect to teaching, emphasized the need to prepare learners to resist the conditioning of apartheid education & economic exploitation. Her work here was supported by her active involvement in the Teachers League of South Africa & the Non- European Unity Movement ( now the New Unity Movement), organizations in which she remained active until shortly before her death.
Former student at Livingstone, Denise Zinn, now Executive Dean and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, describes her as follows:
“Stella was an icon at Livingstone High School in Cape Town, without a doubt the best biology or life/natural sciences teacher we had the good fortune to encounter during our schooling there. She chose to use what was, at the time, an extraordinarily high educational qualification in her area of expertise, to teach in a high school, in a commitment to counter the debasement of education under Apartheid. As a result of her excellent teaching, she ensured that generations of students from Livingstone High had the foundation in biological sciences, a subject that was then compulsory for all high school students, to enable them to be eligible to become doctors, scientists, medical technologists, botanists, nature conservationists and experts in fields requiring a thorough grounding in life sciences.”
“Stella was more than an excellent Biology teacher, and an excellent scientist. Her involvement and understanding of the politics of the day, and her courageous stand against Apartheid together with other teachers at Livingstone, were part of her proud and dignified bearing and stance on all kinds of issues that arise in a school setting and in the broader community. She got us involved in inter-school clubs and societies that engaged with fellow students in schools across the imposed segregated borders, so that we got to know, discuss and debate with our fellow South Africans, black and white. She was involved with cultural fellowships and societies that encouraged us to read beyond the curriculum, got us to learn about international struggles around the world, enabled us to see films, hear music, and read poetry and books that inspired and stimulated us to participate in the fight for human rights and non-racialism in a free South Africa. “
Subsequent to her retirement in 1999, she continued to have an active involvement in education through her participation in the Environmental Centre at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, assisting in the education of students and learners through the educational programs offered at the Centre. She performed this role with distinction from 1999 until 2005.
In 1999 she received the Rotary Club of South Africa Merit Award ”in recognition of service above self for the benefit of our community in environment education.” This was followed by the Cape Times Caltex Lifetime Achiever Award for “outstanding contribution and commitment in the field of Conservation efforts in the Western Cape
Stella has two offspring, Janice (with whom Dr Petersen lived in Plumstead) and Neal, who resides in South Carolina, USA.
Her funeral service will be held at 13h30 on Friday 29 November at St John’s Parish in Wynberg. In lieu of flowers there will be a collection for the Douglas Murray Home.
Compiled: Malcolm Campbell
