Sally Bernard, an elementary school teacher for over 40 years who retired to East Hampton in the 1990s, volunteered here for the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall and redevoted herself to pursuing her interests in swimming, yoga, literature, classical music, and opera.
She died on Nov. 14 in Boca Raton, Fla. She was 92 and had been ill for the past five years.
Originally from Bayonne, N.J., where she was born on Aug. 23, 1929, to Abraham Bernard and the former Ida Abramovitch, she graduated from Bayonne High School and Montclair State Teachers College (now Montclair State University). She survived polio at age 19 and was left “with a partial disability that never stopped her from achieving her goals,” her family wrote.
She and Donald Eugene Patrick Moran were married on July 11, 1952. That same year, she entered the education profession with a master’s degree in English literature, and “went on to earn 60 additional postgraduate degree credits, achieving Ph.D. equivalency within the teacher ranking system,” her family wrote.
Ms. Bernard taught in a number of New Jersey school systems, including in Closter from 1952 to 1966, and across the border in New York in the Ramapo Central School District through 1994. During her career, she was featured teaching in her classroom in a New York Times article, and was an active member of the National Education Association, New York State United Teachers, and the National Organization for Women.
When her 20-year-old son, Barry, was killed as a passenger in a car driven by a drunken driver in 1981, she became involved in Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and was featured in a TV news report covering a vigil for victims to raise public awareness.
For most of her retirement, Ms. Bernard was a full-time resident of East Hampton. More recently, she spent winters in Pompano Beach, Fla.
She is survived by three children, Brian Moran of East Hampton, Barney Moran of Boulder, Colo., and Brenda Clark of Hamilton, N.J., and by her former husband’s additional children, Michael Moran and Martin Moran, both of Boulder. She also leaves four granddaughters, Shannon, Sarah, Barrie, and Della, a niece, three nephews, and seven cousins.
A service was held on Monday at Beth-El Cemetery in Washington Township, N.J., where she was buried. Gary Schoem officiated.
Her family has suggested donations in her memory to Save the Children, online at bit.ly/3G7I40L.
