Connie Marks

Connie Marks

1927 – 2022

Connie Marks, for more than 35 years an elementary school teacher in Philadelphia, died Nov. 4, 2022, at 95. She was beloved in her neighborhood of Northeast Philly, where she got hundreds of children off to a strong academic start and helped them become kind, curious, and self-confident human beings. Every school has a teacher for whom parents petition the principal, begging for their children to be in that class. Connie was that teacher. 

Connie lived in Princeton, N.J., since 2005. Born July 15, 1927, in Philadelphia, Constance Pearl Seidler was the daughter of Morris and Rose Seidler, who owned a dry-goods store in Minersville, Pa., a town known for its anthracite coal. She was the middle child, coming after brother Edwin and before baby sister Lois. The Seidlers were among only a few Jewish families in the community. 

Connie’s high school yearbook singled her out as “the career girl” of the class. She loved reading, and as a high school student, she hoped to become a librarian. Minersville’s public library had closed in 1941, and in 1944, Connie and three classmates came up with a project to reopen it. With the help of a teacher, they cleaned all the books and helped to get the building ready. The library reopened in November of that year and remains open today. 

After high school, Connie attended Penn State University, commuting to a satellite campus for the first two years. Her family had lost the dry-goods store as a result of the Great Depression, and so did not have money to send her for a master’s degree, which she would need to become a librarian. She majored in education instead. For the rest of her life, she said this was one of the best things that ever happened to her.

Connie adored teaching, and her students adored her. Her first teaching job was at the Landreth School in Philadelphia. But she spent almost her entire career – 35 years – at the school her own children attended, Louis H. Farrell Elementary School, just a couple of blocks from her Northeast Philadelphia home. She taught first and second grade – sometimes together – and led school assemblies and conducted the chorus. Some of her success can be attributed to what came to be known as the “Connie look”: She would stand silently at the front of a roomful of rambunctious 6-year-olds, and within seconds, the children would miraculously settle into silence.  

In the 1970s, when Northeast Philly drew Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union and refugees from Vietnam, Connie advocated for these students and gave them clothing, toys, and equipment from her family’s closets. “If you haven’t worn it, played with it, or used it in a year, you don’t need it,” her daughter, Marilyn, recalls Connie telling her. Connie stressed that her daughter should never say anything if she saw another child wearing her coat or riding her bike in the schoolyard, as this would embarrass the child. 

Connie’s success and devotion to teaching were recognized by her supervisors and others. She was nominated multiple times by district leaders to be national Teacher of the Year, and when she retired, the City Council adopted a resolution lauding her for “tapping into the inquisitive minds of children, and instilling pride and confidence in her students … so no child slips through the system unnoticed.” A council member presented the resolution at a surprise school assembly.  

She was a strong supporter of her union, the American Federation of Teachers. But when the union went on strike for better working conditions – occasionally for weeks at a time – Connie worried that children in her class would fall behind. Each day, after spending the morning on the picket line, Connie would spend the afternoon tutoring children at her home. The lessons were free, though some families offered payment in lasagnas and cakes. 

The great love of Connie’s life was Morris Marks, whom she met when they lived across the street from each other in Philadelphia. They were married for 64 years, until Morris died in May 2018. Together, they traveled around the country and the world, visiting Israel, the United Kingdom, and finally – in her late 70s – China, where their son, Ted, was working. The couple moved to Tamarac, Florida, for several years after retirement, where they built a network of close friends and were introduced to the pleasures of early-bird dinners. In 2005, health concerns brought them back to the Northeast, where they could be close to their daughter. 

Connie enjoyed living in Princeton, where she found friends among neighbors and fellow members of her book club, the local chapter of Jewish Women International, and the Let’s Talk group meeting at the Princeton Senior Resource Center. She never missed an election and grew especially interested in politics later in life. She attended her first political fundraiser – for Barack Obama – when she was 81 years old. 

Connie is survived by her children and children-in-law, Marilyn Marks Tal and Reli Tal of Princeton, with whom she lived; and Ted and Ilene Fluss Marks of San Jose, California. She is also survived by three grandchildren, Rinat Ma’ayan Tal, Eliana Lauren Marks, and Zachary Aaron Marks. In recent years, she most cherished her time with Rinat, Eliana, and Zack. 

Funeral services and burial are Sunday, November 6 at 11:00 am at Princeton Cemetery, 29 Greenview Avenue, Princeton, NJ.

The family suggests that contributions in her memory be sent to the Minersville, Pa., public library (minersvillelibrary.org); the Home and School Association at Farrell Elementary School (c/of Debbie Simon, Farrell School, 8300 Castor Ave., Philadelphia, PA, 19152); Planned Parenthood (plannedparenthood.org); or HIAS (hias.org). Arrangements are by Orland’s Memorial Chapel in Ewing, N.J.