Lana R. Argir, 70, of Harwich, an elementary school teacher noted by colleagues, parents and pupils as an educator of exceptional skill and heartfelt devotion to her little charges, died April 18, 2011 at home.
She was the wife of James Argir, a retired elementary school principal, teacher, and coach. She was a daughter of the late Alden D. Steele and Clotilda D. Steele of Provincetown. The cause of death was ovarian cancer.
Mrs. Argir said she was not a “great person who did great things.” But she was the kind of elementary school teacher everyone wishes they had, someone whose warmth and savvy perceptions brought out the best in children, filling them with self-worth and pride. She was extraordinary indeed because she did everything so well and so right in her personal and professional life, riveted to a standard of excellence from the time she was a girl.
Susan Pierce, who taught kindergarten for 15 years in Wayland with Mrs. Argir said, “She was an incredibly gifted teacher. I don’t know how else to say it. She was gifted. You had to observe it. She just had a knack for working with kids, bringing out the best in them. The quality of caring came through so clearly in everything she did.”
“A super-teacher,” said her assistant Jane Leonard. “She was the warmest person. Such warmth! She was so nurturing with the children. She had a twinkle about her. Her words are coming out of my mouth now.”
She said Mrs. Argir had a “little special place in her heart” for children with learning or behavioral problems. It was a joke among the faculty that she got all the problem children. “I loved turning them around,” Mrs. Argir said.
Mrs. Argir taught kindergarten at Claypit Hill School in Wayland and later the first grade at Happy Hollow School, retiring in 1998. “Children fascinated me,” she said. “I learned so much from them.”
John Talbot of Eastham, her former principal, said, “I was impressed with her knowledge and warmth. She was a star. The kind of person who shared her ideas, thoughts and discoveries, which was why she was so loved and admired by the rest of the staff.”
He said, “She put in the time. She came in early and stayed late. She was a lifelong learner who never got to a point where she said she knew it all.” She was so valuable, he said, that even after she retired he rehired her to fix staffing problems.
A straight-A student at Provincetown High School, Mrs. Argir was on the literary staff of her yearbook, a class officer for four years, a basketball player and a cheerleader, in the Latin Honor Society and the National Honor Society. She walked off with a boatload of scholarships for her first year at Bridgewater State College, where she was an honor student. In her yearbook she was named: Best Looking, Friendliest, Most Sophisticated, and Best All Around.
A classmate, Joseph G. Taves of Provincetown said, “She was incredibly beautiful, intelligent and nice. I kicked myself for years for not acting on that.”
Born into a family of Azorean descent, she became the first college graduate in the history of her large extended family. With little family help other than a three-dollar-a-week allowance, she worked three summer jobs to put herself through college. Her father once said she refused to take the allowance because she had $2.90 left from the week before. He said she apologized for being so undisciplined for having spent a dime on a Coke.
Despite her high school academic accomplishments, she had bitter memories of teachers who said she was not able and should not try. A guidance counselor told her she could never get through college because her IQ was “dead normal,” which he based on a fifth-grade test. But, Mrs. Leonard said, “She remembered the teachers who told her she could do it.”
Mrs. Argir delighted in teaching special-needs children. A boy with Down’s Syndrome was sent to her class because Wayland wanted such children mainstreamed early. When the boy graduated from high school he sent her an invitation.
She met Mr. Argir at Bridgewater State. They married right after her graduation in 1962 and settled in Natick, Mr. Argir’s hometown. She converted to the Orthodox Catholic Church because of her husband’s deep connection to the Annunciation Orthodox Church in Natick, which was a central part of their family life. She became a president of Vetetima, the church’s Women’s Society, celebrated for her Albanian dishes, especially baklava, endearing herself to her mother-in-law, the late Katherine Argir, for becoming “more Albanian than an Albanian.”
Her brother, Duane A. Steele of Provincetown, said, “When I was in training for sainthood, my psychologist asked me to describe all my siblings, then asked, ‘Okay, who was the perfect one?’ I laughed and said, “Lana, of course! How did you know?”
Mrs. Argir is survived by her husband and two sons, James A. Argir and his wife Michele of Holliston and Michael A. Argir and his wife Terry of Natick; her brother, three sisters; Rose M. Stephan of Brewster, Michelle L. Kender of Plymouth and Bonnie G. McGhee of Truro; a brother-in-law, Thomas Argir of Framingham; and a sister-in-law, Linda Lloyd of Natick; and five grandchildren, Corey J. Argir and Brianna R. Argir, Garrett M. Argir, Averie M. Argir and Chase M. Argir.
Visiting hours will be held in the John Everett & Sons Funeral Home, 4 Park St. (at Natick Common) NATICK on Thursday, April 21, 2011 from 3-7 PM. A funeral service will be held on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 10:00 AM in the Chapel at Bethany Health Care Center, 97 Bethany Rd. Framingham, MA 01702. Burial will follow in Dell Park Cemetery, Natick
Instead of flowers, donations in her memory may be sent to the Annunciation Orthodox Church, 37 Washington St., Natick, MA 01760 or Bethany Health Care Center, 97 Bethany Road, Framingham, MA 01701.