The family of June Lewin cherishes memories of her sitting at the dining room table reading aloud her favorite poems, quotations and excerpts from literature. She filled boxes and boxes with those treasured words, said her daughter, Deidre. Three years ago, Mrs. Lewin, with her sister, self-published a compilation of her favorites titled “Through the Journey.” The book is a testament to not only her love for the written word, but the passion she passed on to her students during the decades she was an English literature teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. Mrs. Lewin, 85, former teacher and special education counselor, died Saturday, July 31, of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Carlton at the Lake nursing home in Chicago. She was raised in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood and attended Hyde Park High School before enrolling at the University of Wisconsin. She left the university in 1941 to marry William S. Lewin. In 1943, she received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from DePaul University andbecame a homemaker for the next 15 years. In 1959, she returned to college, and after receiving a teaching degree from Northeastern Illinois University, she began a 25-year career teaching English literature, first at Hyde Park High School then at Roosevelt High School. “She loved literature, adored words, so when she decided to go back to work, she very much loved the subject she was teaching,” said her daughter. At 60, she completed a degree in school counseling and became a special education counselor at Roosevelt. Her husband died in 1983. Other survivors include a son, Richard; two brothers, Robert and Ronald Esserman; a sister, Rochelle Benjamin; and two grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Temple Sholom, 3480 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago.
