Jan Mickler
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Jan Mickler, aged 79, passed away peacefully and in the company of loved ones on March 30th in her home in Decatur, Georgia.
She was born in Alexandria, LA. She attended Florida State University, majoring in Music Therapy, where she met her husband, Peter Temko. They were married in 1964 in Gainesville, Florida. She earned a master's degree in Special Education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and a Ph.D. in Reading Education from Florida State University.
She began her career as Director of Music Therapy at the New Jersey Neuropsychiatric Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. She continued her life in education as Director of Teaching and Learning for the Chattanooga, TN, public schools. She was the Principal of Fairyland Elementary School in Lookout Mountain, GA.
After moving to Florida in 1999, she was the Supervisor of Secondary Reading and Language Arts for the Pinellas County Schools. She then became Executive Director of Strategic Literacy Consulting and Associate Director for the National Literacy Project.
Jan was an expert educator and champion of teachers and students. She believed fiercely that every child can learn and always found a way to instill that faith into the children she taught, the teachers she mentored, and the school systems in which she served as a literacy consultant. Though she retired in 2012, Jan remained active in teaching and consulting and continued to mentor the next generation of teachers.
She was also a talented pianist, performing solo and chamber music throughout her life. She was devoted to music and the arts and was most contented and peaceful when listening to her favorite music with a book in her hand and a fire in the fireplace.
The power of Jan's personality lay in her ability to make everyone she met, however briefly, feel seen, heard, and loved. She exuded warmth and kindness every moment of her life. Her shining presence affected everyone she knew deeply.
Jan is survived by her husband, Peter Temko of Atlanta, Georgia, her children Leonard and wife Janice Barnes of New York, Benjamin and wife Wanda Yang Temko, her grandchildren Daisy and Alexandra of Atlanta, Georgia, her sisters Karen Mickler of Robbinsville, NC and Lindsay Mickler of Lutz, Florida, and a much loved extended family in Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and California.
She was preceded in death by her mother Daisy Stubbs Dickerson, her brother Brian Mickler, and her father John Ellis Mickler.
The family extends sincere thanks to the caring and expert staff of Weinstein Hospice and the physicians and staff of the Piedmont Cancer Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. Donations in her name will be appreciated and can be made to Southern Poverty Law Center or The American Cancer Society.