Norma Handloff, First Female Mayor In Delaware, 89
DGH
Norma Bram Handloff, a former mayor of Newark, Delaware, who lived in
Duxbury, Masachusetts, for the last 16 years, died Thursday. November
14, 2002, in Bay Path Nursing Home in Duxbury after complications
associated with Alzheimer's disease, at the age of 89.
"Her whole attitude was that she was going to leave the world a better
place than she found it," said one of her daughters, Deborah Cornwall
of Marshfield Hills.
Mrs. Handloff was the first woman to serve as mayor of a Delaware
city, Cornwall said. State records show she became mayor in 1966 and
resigned in 1973 to become executive director of Delaware Agency to
Reduce Crime.
"As mayor, she was really able to get a lot done," Cornwall said.
"There were always a lot of stresses between the University of
Delaware and the town. She got a lot done in terms of parklands,
[including] the first state-sponsored public park in Newark."
In 1994, the park was named the Norma B. Handloff Park to recognize
her contribution to the community, particularly her support for
federal funding of municipal parklands.
While mayor, Mrs. Handloff served on the Governor's Council on the
Administration of Justice.
In 1972, she ran for Congress but lost to incumbent Pete du Pont.
Running against a du Pont in Delaware is akin to running against a
Kennedy in Massachusetts. ''She had a chance of about a snowflake
landing in hell, but she gave it a go,'' her daughter said.
A graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, Mrs. Handloff taught
French in a Chester, Pa., high school before settling in Newark. While
raising a family with her husband, Samuel, who died in 1974, she took
up an active role in town affairs.
She served as president of the Delaware League of Women Voters and the
Delaware Educational TV Association. After helping to expand the
broadcast area of WHYY-TV from Philadelphia to Delaware, she joined
the board of the public television station.
In addition, she was director of the Wilmington Medical Center and
YMCA, as well as a chairwoman of the Delaware division of the American
Cancer Society.
In 1985, Mrs. Handloff was named to the Delaware Women's Hall of Fame
and was later listed in Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in
Government, and the International Dictionary of Biography.
Mrs. Handloff supported symphonies, ballet companies, and museums
wherever she lived and traveled to Portugal, France, Finland, Soviet
Union, and China later in life, her family said.
She moved to Culver City, a part of Los Angeles, after her husband's
death to live with her high school sweetheart, Bert Berlant, whom she
hadn't seen since their graduation in 1929.
The two lost touch after her father forced them to stop seeing each
other.
"It's an amazing story," her daughter said. Berlant retraced their
schoolday roots and got in touch with some old teachers to get Mrs.
Handloff's phone number. When he called her up, she responded with,
"Bert, I knew you'd find me," her daughter said. "It's so sad she
didn't write a book" about it.
After Berlant's death in 1986, Mrs. Handloff moved to Duxbury.
Boston Globe
Sarns
"DGH" <peri...@eudoramail.com> wrote in message
news:d2b22a7d.02112...@posting.google.com...
> .
>
> Norma Bram Handloff, a former mayor of Newark, Delaware, who lived in
[snip]
Thought that read NORAH HANDOFF...to start off with.... poor woman lolol..
Sarns
Christchurch, New Zealand