Winifred Evers Pardo Winnie

Winifred Evers Pardo, an educational administrator whose life's work focused upon the advancement of human rights and the building of community - creating spaces and rallying resources so that everyone in her orbit and in other communities inspired by her work could blossom - died on April 17, 2020 in Manhattan as a presumed result of COVID-19. She was 91. Winifred Marjorie Evers was born in the Bronx on January 26, 1929, the daughter of German-American New Yorkers, John R. Evers, Sr. and Elsa M. Evers (nee Burger). She was raised in the Bronx and in East Northport on Long Island. The first member of her family to attend college, she commuted to Barnard College in Manhattan, where she earned her BA in religion, studying under 20 th century Protestant theological luminaries Ursula and Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich, and where she encountered a Columbia College student, Gonzalo I. Pardo, who became her husband and lifelong companion. After graduate study at Union Theological Seminary, she ran programs at the YWCA and faith and justice organization Student Christian Movement in NYC. She then turned her attention to raising a family and working with her husband to establish a successful dental practice on the north shore of eastern Long Island. As a wife and mother, Winnie Pardo kept so many plates in the air with such energy and flair, that she inspired awe. Her family (which was inclusive in definition) will never understand how she managed to keep them all fed, clothed, doctored, on time to school, transported, comforted through hard times, celebrated and supported in shining moments, sung to, noticed, and loved. She oversaw the business aspects of her husband's dental practice, keeping loyal staff, impeccable records and books that balanced to the penny. And, somehow, miraculously, she had time for community. She was an active Elder at the First Presbyterian Church of Port Jefferson where, among other things, she ran and established innovative and often justice-focused curricula for the Christian education program. She also served for many years on the local school board, taking a lead role in the establishment of a new, innovative progressive school district and middle school that weathered initial community skepticism to become a national model for great schools. Always a true grassroot, Winnie also enlisted the help of a coterie of neighborhood mothers and kids to develop an exhaustive index card system that tracked details on every voter and earned mythic status among local officials seeking support for initiatives and re-election. In the mid-1970s, Winnie returned to full-time employment at the Shoreham-Wading River Middle School, first taking on the creation and direction of a community service learning program that became a vital part of the school's curriculum and a national model that inspired integration of service learning into schools across the country. Heralded by the US Department of Education and by education academics, the program was based on the central idea that learning, animated by sustained active response to the real needs of people within students' broader communities, was deep learning that brought clear thinking to the fore and fostered lifelong habits of responsibility. A tireless enabler of hands-on learning and the arts, Winnie helped establish innovative outdoor environmental education programs, and brought world class creative talent into the schools to teach master classes in dance, music and fine arts. She enlisted the likes of Paul Taylor Dance Company for week-long programs with middle schoolers, and placed students for working stays on the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater ship, Pete Seeger's environmental legacy to clean up the Hudson River. A tireless warrior for inclusion and equal opportunity, Winnie was an early "take it seriously" advocate for gender equality and guided her school district in implementation of the rigorous requirements for gender equity under federal Title IX law. She also created the"Human Rights Education Program" that had wide-ranging impact on educators in her school district by offering professional development workshops on social justice education and assisting in the development of classroom teaching on pressing social issues. The program was featured twice in education administration publication, "Educational Leadership," in articles Winnie co-authored. While working, Winnie earned two MA degrees in education, and became an assistant principal at the Middle School where she worked until her retirement. She also served for many years as a member of the board of the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Eastern Suffolk, a public organization created by the New York State Legislature in 1948 to provide shared educational programs and services to school districts. Winnie's colleagues and students remember her as a mentor and leader who listened and who, through solidarity, administrative savvy and the marshaling of resources, made it possible for them to be their best selves, putting their passions to work in all educational settings. Many former students have credited participation in Winnie's community service program with having inspired their choices to enter service careers such as in special education, social work and education. After retirement, Winifred Pardo remained an active, energetic participant in all of her communities - educational, religious and familial. She was the person everyone wanted to have with them in the trenches, the wise and competent friend who could be relied upon to hear, understand and roll up her sleeves to do what needed to be done. And she was a doting grandmother whose grandchildren were, naturally, the most brilliant and beautiful children the world had ever known. Her hopeful, compassionate, other-centered outlook remained absolutely intact through her last years. Ms. Pardo, widow of the late Gonzalo I. Pardo, is survived by her children, Brian Pardo, Christine Pardo Chudnovsky and Beth Pardo, children-in-law, Lynn Ray Pardo and Gregory Chudnovsky, and grandchildren Evan Pardo, Cara Pardo, Marian Chudnovsky and Zoe Ko. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to one of the charities that Mom held dear to her heart: 1. Planned Parenthood Federation of America - plannedparenthood.org/ 2. Southern Poverty Law Center - donate.splcenter.org/ 3. Habitat for Humanity - habitat.org/sweatequity (if preferred to submit donation to these organizations through the "Charitable Contributions" section of this memorial page, donor & amount will be displayed on this page.)