nearly 40 years, she taught elementary, junior high and gifted students in the Miami Dade school district. Prior to retirement, she taught at the school district’s middle school gifted program located at Miami-Dade College’s North Campus.
Although diminutive at 5 feet, she had a towering impact on her
students. It was the life lessons, as much as the academics, that her
students remembered most.
Despite having Multiple Sclerosis she continued to teach often putting
what she learned about her disease to good use. She wrote murder
mysteries for her students to solve, with each suspect having a
different disability. Her students had to learn about the different
disabilities to decipher the clues and solve the crime. To teach them
about ethical decision-making, she would have students play Dungeons
and Dragons.
She touched the lives of thousands, many of whom fondly recalled being
in her classroom. Her daughter remarked that one day, while food shopping, a young man introduced himself as a former student. “You were the toughest teacher I ever had,” remarked the grocery store bag boy, “But I remember what you taught us.”
Elinor Syna graduated from Pittsburgh’s Taylor Allderdice High School
in 1948, the University of Pittsburgh in 1952, and received her
Masters in Education from the University of Florida in 1967. She was a
member of Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority at Pitt.
After moving to Florida in 1952, she married Coleman Robert Meyers in 1953. They divorced in 1962. She lived in North Miami Beach and was a long-time member of Temple Israel of Greater Miami. In 1993, she moved to Pembroke Pines.
Her daughter, Dr. Merrie Meyers, survives her.
A memorial service and burial is scheduled for 10 a.m., Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at Lakeside Memorial Park, 10301 NW 25th Street, Miami, FL 33172 | 305-592-0690.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the University of Florida Alumni Association.
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