On Tuesday, April 26, 2022, Bretta Weiss Wolff, former national director of the American Montessori Society (1978 – 1992) and the 12th AMS Living Legacy (2004), passed away peacefully at the age of 96. For over 50 years, Bretta was a major change agent for AMS and for the greater Montessori Movement because of her ability to move Montessori education forward on both local and national levels.
Early Life
Housed in the AMS archives is a 2002 audio interview with Bretta that begins with a strong memory: her favorite toy was an electric train she received as a young child and something that remained a strong memory into adulthood.
“I was raised during the era where girls were supposed to go to college [if the parents could afford it] and get married,” Bretta reflected. The stronger pull for Bretta’s parents? Getting an education and developing enough skill and professionalism that she could take care of herself.
It’s not surprising, for those who knew Bretta personally, to learn that she came from a long line of strong women. Her grandmother was a Civil War widow who had 11 children, the second youngest of which was her mother. Living with this grandmother and her mother, (who she described as a “strong farm woman from West Virginia”) surely impacted her ideas of her own potential and ability to make a place in the world.
In the summers, Bretta worked various jobs at the suggestion of her family. Her mother encouraged her to try a variety of careers to gauge interest level before investing time, energy, and money into something. She spent two high school summers in a hospital but decided it wasn’t for her. Later, she worked in service organizations like the Red Cross. It was through those experiences that she realized she wanted to make a life dealing with people.
As a young married woman with two children, she stayed home and continued her work in local service organizations. Once, while going door to door asking for money for a school foundation to build a swimming pool, a man standing in his garden turned the hose on her and her then 2 ½ year old daughter. Her daughter, Emily, said “I don’t think they like us.” And yet, Bretta helped raise that money and that swimming pool became something Emily (and countless other local children) would later swim in.
Still, Bretta was not interested in being a teacher or even that deeply engrossed in education. She’d worked previously in a public relations office in Cleveland before the family had moved to Westchester, and later, while working as a stay-at-home mom, becoming a teacher was far from her radar. Of course, that would change with one well-placed magazine at the beauty shop.
Introduction to Montessori
While sitting in the hairdresser chair, Bretta picked up a magazine and found herself reading about the Whitby School in Greenwich, CT. This was the late 1950s and she had two elementary-aged children at home. The article intrigued her.
She herself had what she calls, “a good public education” in Cleveland, OH, but when her oldest daughter was still in school in the Greater Cleveland Area, she had been placed in the hallway. Her infraction? Reading. She was in 1st grade. This experience discouraged her daughter, or rather, encouraged her to not want to achieve.
Inspired by what she read about the Whitby School, Bretta paid a visit and was thrilled. There were two main stumbling blocks: first, the long commute and second, the financial investment. So, Bretta did the next best thing: joined with 8 other parents to start a school in their town of Larchmont, NY.
In the Classroom
The Montessori School of Westchester was opened in 1963 with a building, 2 classrooms, a teacher from Holland who had trained under Maria Montessori, and 9 children. By the end of the year, there would be 30 children in the classrooms and a waitlist of 30 more children.
As they were preparing to open the school, Bretta decided to visit the office of the American Montessori Society, then housed above a bakery in Greenwich, CT. There, she met Cleo Monson, the first national director of AMS. She was to support them in getting materials from overseas. In 1963, the cost of materials for one classroom was $600. However, when Bretta and another parent took a station wagon to the dock to get the materials, the employees at U.S. Customs said they needed to pay an additional $2,000 because they were “toys” and not “educational materials.” Bretta implored them to call the AMS office and Cleo Monson straightened them out. The materials were delivered.
In 1968, the teacher who had helped open the school stepped away for health reasons and Bretta stepped in. From 1968 to 1973, Bretta served as the director of the school. Though she had spent years studying Montessori, it was around this time she decided to get her Montessori teaching certificate in Early Childhood and received it through St. Nicholas of London. She also wanted to have New York State qualifications and moved forward with her masters degree in Early Childhood – Grade 6.
In 1973, with a new degree and credential under her belt, Bretta moved forward with two other parents to start a school on the border of New Rochelle, Larchmont, and Scarsdale, NY called the Hudson Country School. Like the Montessori School of Westchester before it, Hudson Country School began with a few students and was almost immediately full.
With the experiences of these two schools guiding her, Bretta decided to continue on this path when her family moved to New York City in 1976. She reached out to Cleo to see if there might be a school she was qualified or able to work in. Cleo instead asked her to come work in the AMS office.
Serving AMS
Cleo Monson had been the first “national director” of the American Montessori Society and in many ways hand-selected Bretta to take over as the second national director. (Today, this is the equivalent of executive director.) In fall of 1976, the office moved from the Flatiron building to 20th and 5th avenue in New York City and Bretta began working as Cleo’s assistant. Bretta, in her late 40s, was the youngest person in the office with her colleagues ranging from their mid 50s to early 80s. Before she became national director in 1978, Bretta was interviewed by every single member of the board of directors.
In 1990, she also served as the AMS board chairperson for Council for American Private Education (CAPE) and later, in that same decade, would become president of CAPE.
Near the end of her tenure as national director, Bretta accepted an invitation from Citizens Ambassadors, a Cultural Vistas program developed by President Eisenhower to bring individuals together to share a common professional focus for an in-depth international exchange. She and Dr. Ruth Selman traveled to Shanghai and through China, ending in Beijing, gathering valuable experience. The next year, Bretta would travel again, this time through Warsaw, Moscow, and Budapest among other cities. In a 2002 interview, Bretta referred to these experiences as one of the “most fulfilling things she’s done.”
Bretta served as national director of AMS until 1992 and shortly after, she and her husband decided to relocate from Manhattan to Albuquerque, NM. She would return in service to AMS from 1997 – 2000 where she served on the School Accreditation Commission and later in the early 2000s to support the board and the search committee for a new executive director. Even without a former title, Bretta continued to actively support AMS through time, money, energy, mentorship, and guidance.
New Mexico
Bretta began advocating for Montessori in local settings, supporting new heads of schools as an advisor and consultant. She served on the school boards and councils and was a founding member of the Montessori Network of New Mexico. According to the Montessori Network of New Mexico, Bretta once described the Montessori Movement as “the enactment of an art form” asking “what could be more satisfying, more fulfilling, and more valuable in the world than becoming an artist?”
Today, the Montessori Network of New Mexico honors Bretta with the Bretta Weiss award, which “recognizes and acknowledges the outstanding work and contributions of Montessorians in the [New Mexico] community.”
Legacy
It is impossible to trace the ripple effects of a life that touched so many. Bretta’s memory will be deeply honored and remembered by so many who called her teacher, mentor, and friend.