Married for 59 years, Sue Ellen and Seymour Teach have lived in the same Larkspur house for 53 of those years.
Sue Ellen, 82 years old, grew up in Norfolk where her family attended B’nai Israel Congregation. A graduate of Old Dominion University with a degree in education, she taught in various school systems, including in Virginia Beach for 24 years.
Originally from New York, Seymour, 85 years old, attended Brooklyn College and University of Maryland School of Law.
The couple met on a blind date when Sue Ellen was teaching in Fairfax, Va. and Seymour was clerking for a judge in Baltimore, Md.
Now, on nearly any day of the week, one or both can be found at the Sandler Family Campus.
When Sue Ellen is not attending a meeting for the Senior Club or Holocaust Commission, she is knitting for Jewish Family Service or playing canasta. Seymour, a recently retired attorney after 59 years, who continues to work from home as he winds down his legal practice, attends exercise class three days per week.
“When I joined the Holocaust Commission after I stopped teaching, Elena Baum was in charge, and I was able to help get her into the Virginia Beach schools,” Sue Ellen says. “We taught the teachers and enlightened them about what the Holocaust Commission does.”
Sue Ellen also serves on the education committee of the Sandler Center Foundation as well as Ohef Sholom Temple’s adult education committee. “I encouraged Rabbi Roz to do Lunch and Learn again,” she says.
The Teaches have been members of Ohef Sholom Temple for 40 years.
Seymour volunteers for the Virginia Beach Democratic Committee and is a member of Brith Sholom. Besides exercising at the Simon Family JCC, he participates in UJFT activities, including the Senior Club and Coffee and Conversations, and volunteers as a BeAR mentor.
Family is spread-out across the nation. The Teaches’ children settled in Denver, Col. and Charleston, S.C. and their grandchildren live in Seattle, Atlanta, and Charleston and one grandchild – a student at University of Colorado at Boulder – is currently in Israel. Sue Ellen and Seymour plan to travel to Seattle in September to visit their granddaughter, whom they haven’t seen in two years. Locally, they enjoy spending time with nieces and nephews, as well as their sister-in-law.
Sue Ellen and Seymour Teach reflect a ‘get up and go’ attitude as they volunteer their skills, teach, exercise, travel, and have fun. . . practically ignoring their age.
