Dr. Gladys Lipton

1/28/2021

Mentor to Many

Photo by Barbara Ruben

Dr. Gladys Lipton, educator, leader, artist, passed away January 19, 2021. Many of us in MFLA were influenced by Dr. Lipton and had the pleasure of working with her in a variety of scenarios within the realm of world language education. Locally, Dr. Lipton served as Supervisor of World Languages & ESOL for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, coordinator of the Modern Language Dept. outreach program at UMBC, at and Past-President of MFLA. Dr. Lipton was especially influential in world languages at the elementary level and was the Director of the National FLES Institute for over 40 years. Six years ago, at the age of 90, Dr. Lipton embarked on a new career - that of abstract artist and to date, had completed more than 400 paintings and held more than a dozen solo art shows. In 2015, The Beacon magazine published an article on Dr. Lipton, written by Barbara Ruben. We encourage you to read the article since it does a fantastic job of recapping Dr. Lipton's careers in education and the art world.

1 Comment

Laura L. Dell

6/4/2023 08:47:12 pm

I was 23, in 1971, and a first-year, middle school, Spanish teacher. My own elementary school Spanish teacher (in a FLES program), who had also been my HS FL teacher, was now my Supervisor. She insisted that I attend a workshop given by Gladys Lipton at a high school in the Bronx.

Dr. Lipton gave us all kinds of ideas for engaging our students in learning the foreign language. Most of the attendees were older teachers, probably looking to update their programs. But I had just left college, was probably the youngest in the room, and I was trying to learn all that I could.

Then Dr. Lipton suggested that we could have our students try their hand at writing songs in the foreign language, commenting that her niece had had some success in that area and that maybe we had heard of her. She casually mentioned that her niece's name was Carole King... WHAT?! :-o !!! CAROLE KING??!! WHAT??!!... At that point, I, awestruck, looked around that whole room, expecting people to be as excited as I was! In my age group, Carole King was already a Superstar, along with James Taylor, and Cat Stevens, and John Denver!! But, much to my surprise, it looked like I was the only one in that group who had heard of her!

Well... from then on, I would often see Dr. Lipton at conferences and meetings... and I always made a point of greeting this, very much esteemed, educator - a star in her own right - by exclaiming, "Carole King's Aunt!! How are you?" :-D I could never quite tell whether she appreciated it or not! ;-D lol

Watching a PBS special on Carole King's music tonight, I thought to Google Dr. Lipton and was sad to see that she had passed." RIP, Carole King's Aunt!" :-)
--- Laura L. Dell M.Ed., retired. Mahopac, NY

Dr. Gladys Lipton

Mentor to Many

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