The first librarian to work specifically with media at the Bureau of Jewish Education, Pauline Levie, died March 20 in San Francisco. She was 84.
Pauline Korss was born July 27, 1919 in York, Pa., and moved to San Francisco when she was two. Her family opened a grocery store in the Richmond district, and they lived above it.
Sherrie Levie Bell, Levie’s daughter, said that her mother was very athletic and strong. One of her uncles taught her how to box, and if someone ever threatened someone she loved, she was known to deck them in the eye.
“She was gentle and kind, but she could be tough, too,” her daughter said.
Korss graduated from U.C. Berkeley and then obtained a master’s degree in library science from the University of San Francisco.
During World War II, she served in Nice, France, with the American Red Cross. Korss played tennis as a girl, and her love for the sport translated into table tennis. While in France, she not only worked with the wounded GIs, but ran Ping Pong tournaments for them as well.
One Friday evening after she returned to the Bay Area, Levie attended Shabbat services at the chapel at Fort Mason. There, she met Merrill “Bud” Levie, and immediately invited him home for dinner. It turned out their families knew each other, and they married April 5, 1946. They had two daughters and divorced in 1959, but stayed friendly for the rest of their lives.
Levie taught at many of San Francisco’s high schools, and also served as a debate coach, often leading her teams to victory in tournaments.
Bell said her mother was “very complex,” and was the kind of person who could be very elegant one day, and dressed like a hippie the next.
She was a member of San Francisco’s Congregation Beth Sholom. She served as vice principal of the religious school, and also taught there, beginning in the late 1950s.
After she retired from teaching in the San Francisco Unified School District, Levie worked during the 1980s as the media librarian at the Bureau of Jewish Education.
Kerin Lieberman, associate director of the BJE, said that Levie was the first person to work full time as media librarian, overseeing the Jewish Educational Materials department. “She took great pride in her work,” said Lieberman. “She came from a public school background and borrowed a lot of those policies and displays from the public school system.”
Bell described her mother as a natural teacher, and said she still hears from people who were taught by Levie either as children or new immigrants and were greatly helped by her.
“My mother would give you her last dime,” said Bell.
In addition to her daughter Sherrie of Redwood Shores, Levie is survived by her daughter Renee Levie Budak of Palo Alto, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Donations can be made to the Bureau of Jewish Education, 639 14th Ave., S.F., CA 94118.