Margery C. Willis, 72, businesswoman and teacher

Margery Cohen Willis, 72, of Chestnut Hill, a businesswoman and educator, died of cancer Thursday, June 11, at home.

Mrs. Willis grew up in Wynnefield and attended Overbrook High School - to which she would return to almost 50 years later as an English teacher.

After earning an undergraduate degree in education from Temple University, Mrs. Willis taught at Simon Gratz High School before returning to Temple to earn a master's degree in communications. She worked toward a Ph.D. in communications before resigning when she became pregnant with her fourth child.

From 1976 to 1987, Mrs. Willis worked as an assistant professor and adjunct faculty member at Temple, where she taught communications classes.

Mrs. Willis switched gears in 1987, opening Ruth's Lamps & Shades, an Erdenheim lighting and furniture business named for her mother, who assisted in the shop until she was 99.

At an age when many of her friends were retiring, Mrs. Willis returned to her first love - teaching city teenagers. In 2008, at age 66, she rejoined the Philadelphia School District, seeking a job at her alma mater. She quickly earned the prestigious designation of National Board Certified Teacher, and in 2012 was honored as one of the district's distinguished teachers by the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation.

She infused her classrooms with technology, but Mrs. Willis' core purpose was making her students fell in love with classic American novels and poetry.

Ethelyn Payne Young, the now-retired principal of Overbrook, said that when she was having a difficult day, she would slip into Mrs. Willis' class.

"She did not just plan her lessons," Young said. "She designed them. I used to call her an artist - she'd spend hours making changes, always trying to figure out how to engage kids in their learning, how to make them think."

Overbrook, Young said, is a "hard school," but when officials at Masterman, the city's elite magnet, tried to recruit Mrs. Willis to teach there, she would not budge, Payne said.

"She told me, 'Ms. Young, those kids at Masterman are going to be OK. I'm staying right here. These kids need me here,' " Young said.

In 2012, Mrs. Willis told The Inquirer that teaching high school students was the toughest and best job she ever had.

"I just love that a-ha moment, where a kid just gets it," Willis said. "You can see it in their faces. All of a sudden, it makes sense to them, and no matter what level kids you have, you can get to that moment. When I see a kid get to that point, it fills me up."

Mrs. Willis taught until recently, when she became too ill to continue.

Mrs. Willis took enormous pride in her work, but her family was her passion. She also loved reading - she always seemed to be forming book groups - tennis, golf, knitting, sewing, and spending time with her grandchildren. For many years, she spent summers on Long Beach Island.

She was a dog lover, too - in her last two decades Mrs. Willis always had a pair of English standard Labrador retrievers.

In September, she and her husband, Gerry, celebrated their 50th anniversary. Soon after, when she was diagnosed with cancer, Mrs. Willis was most concerned about her family and spent her remaining time with the people and pets she loved.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by sons Julian, Corey, and Ethan; daughter Alison Douglas; and two grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday at Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Raphael Sacks, 6410 N. Broad St. Burial is private. Shiva will be observed.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.

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