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Anne Spellicy
August 18, 1903 - September 20, 1991
Anne Eloise Spellicy, born in Texas, was raised in Monrovia and went to Monrovia High School. From there she went on to become a Bruin at UCLA on the old Vermont Avenue campus. While there, she was active in campus affairs and was president of Delta Delta Delta.
She started teaching at the Junior High in 1928, and taught there until June 1966 with the exception of a one year leave of absence to teach at Ethical Culture School in New York City. Many will recall her traditional Christmas plays (such as "Why The Chimes Rang") in the forties and fifties. Several yeas ago at the South Pasadena 4th of July parade, former Mayor, Fletcher Swan, was honored as "Senior Citizen of the Year". He showed Miss Spellicy his plaque and she said, "You were one of the best Christmas Angels in the 9th grade".
As a teacher, she was very devoted and urged students to use proper grammar. But, she would chuckle when somone would say, "Nobody doesn't like Anne Spellicy".
She was a leader at the Gamble House in Pasadena and served as President of the Docent council, and in many other capacities for 22 years. Anne Spellicy was loved by virtually everyone (students and others alike) and will be missed by all.
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Steven S Kane (1966)
Miss Spellicy was my 8th grade homeroom teacher during the 1961-62 school year. She was a very effective teacher but accomplished this with kindness and approval rather than punishment. They still had many of the old wooden desks with inkwells at the Junior High at that time. I once showed Miss Spellicy that someone had carved the name "Billy Beedle" on the bottom surface of my desk top. She said: "You know Billy Beedle!" and I asked: "Who is he?" Miss Spellicy told me that Billy Beedle was the film star, William Holden, who was one of her students in the early 1930s. Holden graduated from SPHS in 1937 according to this site, which would have put him in Miss Spellicy's class around 1932-33 just about 30 years before I found his name carved in my desk. We need dedicated and excellent teachers like Anne Spellicy and I hope that there are still many at what is now South Pasadena Middle School. Steve Kane, '66
James Tomlin (1961)
I was in Miss Spellicy's homeroom in 1957-58. She was an excellent teacher, she actually got each of us to write a book, and she can still send me a smile across the years.Tim Vincent Stimpfel (1969)
One of my favorite teachers and I still have the "bound" book of the writings that I did in her class. She was an excellent teacher as she taught with a lot of love for her students. God Bless Ms. Spellicy.
Susan Stanley (1962)
I still have my illustrated and hand lettered and bound autobiography from the year 1958. I treasure the note from Ms. Spellicy with my grade that she slipped between the pages. She was a lovely person and an excellent teacher. She will not be forgotten!!!
~ Susan Stanley class of 1962
Tres Tanner (1966)
I, along with several classmates, had the distinctive opportunity of having Miss Anne Spellicy for our ninth grade homeroom. As others have mentioned, her assignment to write our own autobiography and then bind it was a brilliant idea. Obviously, the most important benefit was to think through and comment upon memories and things that mattered to us at that stage of our life. Additionally, I found it interesting to learn about how hardbound books are actually created as we had to do this ourselves (I especially remember sewing the various 'siognatures', individually first, and then together, prior to gluing them all into the cover. I still have my autobiography (which I named 'Typically Tres')--bound in an artificial ostrich leather cover--which my sister, Terri, graciously illustrated for me. (NOTE: My posterity has enjoyed learning what my perspectives were as a 9th grader.) A couple of other memories about her stand out in my mind about Miss Spellicy. 1st, she would occasionally mention to us that she was a member of the Sierra Club, when emphasizing to us just how important it is to care for the environment. The second was making it a point to let us know that the 'truly correct pronunciation' of the world's tallest mountain range is 'Himal'yas'
Lo, more than 60 years later, Anne Spellicy is among those professional educators whom I still consider among those professional educators who had a lasting positive impact in my life. . .
Tres Tanner (Class of '66)