source

Two snips:

Marva Collins, a former substitute teacher whose success at educating poor black students in a private school she founded made her a candidate for secretary of education and the subject of a television movie, died on Wednesday in a hospice near her home in South Carolina. She was 78.

Her death was confirmed by Hospice Care of the Lowcountry in Bluffton, S.C.

After working as a substitute teacher for 14 years in Chicago public schools, Ms. Collins cashed in her $5,000 in pension savings and opened Westside Preparatory School in 1975. The school originally operated in the basement of a local college and then, to be free of red tape (the same reason she said she had refused federal funds), in the second floor of her home.

_______

An article about the school in 1977 in The Chicago Sun-Times attracted national attention. She was later the subject of a “60 Minutes” segment and of “The Marva Collins Story,” a 1981 television movie on CBS with Cicely Tyson playing Ms. Collins and Morgan Freeman as her husband. She even appeared briefly in a video for Prince’s song “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.”

[Edited 10/15/16 0:14am]

how sad they both died in the same year

Sad, indeed; however, Mrs. Collins died over a year ago.

http://www.chicagotribune...tory.html

FlyOnTheWall said:

Sad, indeed; however, Mrs. Collins died over a year ago.

http://www.chicagotribune...tory.html

You know, you're right of course. And I'm not sure why this popped up in my feeds as new news. Hmmm, oh well. Live & learn.

TrivialPursuit said:

FlyOnTheWall said:

Sad, indeed; however, Mrs. Collins died over a year ago.

http://www.chicagotribune...tory.html

You know, you're right of course. And I'm not sure why this popped up in my feeds as new news. Hmmm, oh well. Live & learn.

No worries. It happens to the best of us. She was a lovely soul. I wonder how he found her. Prince was really about using his wealth to improve the life chances of "the least of these" in this world.