Arnolda C. Utrecht
Died
Arnolda C. UtrechtArnolda C. Utrecht died peacefully on February 19, 2020 after a long and eventful life. As the founder and long-time guiding force of Glendale Montessori School, she shepherded the education and social development of generations of children for the past 50 years. Through her indomitable will and fierce determination, she surmounted great adversity and created a life of accomplishment that will inspire those lucky enough to have known her for years to come.
She was active in the Dutch community in Southern California as an active member of the Netherlands American Society and the Netherlands Social Services Organization, and served on the board of directors of both organizations for decades, continuing a life-long commitment to service to others. Queen Beatrix of Holland awarded her the Ridder Orde van Oranje-Nassau recognizing her work on behalf of the Netherlands Social Services Organization. She provided the first classroom for home for Dutch in L.A. language classes 20 years ago.
She was born in Utrecht, The Netherlands on June 13, 1933. Her father, Abraham Cohen, died in Stuttgart as a slave laborer from the concentration camp during the Second World War. After their divorce in 1936, her mother, Jansje Reumerman, raised her as a single parent in Holland, together with her twin sister, Josephine Cohen Land, and her younger brother, Albert Cohen.
She grew up in The Hague, The Netherlands. Arnolda and her siblings were children of the Holocaust. Her mother suffered from tuberculosis, and for several years she and her siblings were "off the books" residents of a religious orphanage. She grew up suffering genuine fear, hunger, and need, and that experience shaped the adult she would become.
She graduated in 1956 from Teachers College in The Hague, where she first received training as a Montessori teacher. Her dedication to the Montessorian principles of education would remain a passion for the rest of her life. After a year working as an au pair in Rye, New York, she worked for the National Iranian Oil Company in Iran, teaching the children of Dutch employees. Despite her life-long fear of flying, she regularly flew from one oil company facility to another in a single-engine four passenger plane to teach. As in so many aspects of her life, her grit and determination prevailed over her fears.
While in Iran, she married an American, Robert P. Utrecht, who was working as an accountant. She returned to Holland for the birth of her son, Paul F. Utrecht, and two years later, for the birth of her daughter, Claire J. Utrecht.
In 1963, the family moved to Burbank, California. She and Robert were divorced when the children were still very young. Although she did not remarry, she and Eric Hof were together for more than a decade before his death in 1985. She took on the challenge of single-parenting with her typical verve and enthusiasm. She found work as a European language translator for the Peterson Car Magazine, relying on dictionaries for those languages she did not know.
She became a teacher at the Calabasas Montessori School in 1965, and then at the West Los Angeles Montessori School, where she was the principal for one year. In 1971, she struck out on her own to found the Burbank Montessori School.
In search of a permanent location in Glendale, she found the Glendale Centre Theater on Doran Street. She was denied a bank loan to purchase the site, as they did not trust a single mother with a loan of that size. The owner of the theater, who had spent a year in the Netherlands as a Mormon missionary and knew the Dutch to be hardworking, honest people, gave her a personal loan to purchase the site, and told her she didn't have to pay him back until she had enough students in the school. She was able to refinance within two years. Since then the school has been known as the Glendale Montessori School. She later expanded the program to include an elementary school, one of a very few Montessori elementary schools in the US. By the mid-1980s she doubled the size of the campus. Over the decades, the school became an institution in Glendale, and a favorite of employees and actors working for the television and movie industry in Burbank.
She finally retired about four years ago, at the age of 82, after a retirement event in her honor held at the school and party attended by several hundred current and former students, parents, and employees.
She traveled the world, including Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South America, Cairo, Morocco, the Canary Islands, and many places in Europe. She especially enjoyed her frequent trips to Las Vegas. She was smart and funny, opinionated and quick-witted.
Her belief in education defined much of her life. She made sure that both of her children received an excellent education, paying full tuition for private high schools at a time when she was struggling to make the school successful. She loved her son, Paul, an attorney in San Francisco, and her daughter, Claire, an educator in Santa Cruz.
She was pre-deceased by her brother, Albert Lucienne Cohen. She is survived by her children, her twin sister, Josephine Cohen Land, who lives in Friesland, and her half-brother Huub Cohen, whom she first met in 1974, and who lives in Limburg.
She was active in the Dutch community in Southern California as an active member of the Netherlands American Society and the Netherlands Social Services Organization, and served on the board of directors of both organizations for decades, continuing a life-long commitment to service to others. Queen Beatrix of Holland awarded her the Ridder Orde van Oranje-Nassau recognizing her work on behalf of the Netherlands Social Services Organization. She provided the first classroom for home for Dutch in L.A. language classes 20 years ago.
She was born in Utrecht, The Netherlands on June 13, 1933. Her father, Abraham Cohen, died in Stuttgart as a slave laborer from the concentration camp during the Second World War. After their divorce in 1936, her mother, Jansje Reumerman, raised her as a single parent in Holland, together with her twin sister, Josephine Cohen Land, and her younger brother, Albert Cohen.
She grew up in The Hague, The Netherlands. Arnolda and her siblings were children of the Holocaust. Her mother suffered from tuberculosis, and for several years she and her siblings were "off the books" residents of a religious orphanage. She grew up suffering genuine fear, hunger, and need, and that experience shaped the adult she would become.
She graduated in 1956 from Teachers College in The Hague, where she first received training as a Montessori teacher. Her dedication to the Montessorian principles of education would remain a passion for the rest of her life. After a year working as an au pair in Rye, New York, she worked for the National Iranian Oil Company in Iran, teaching the children of Dutch employees. Despite her life-long fear of flying, she regularly flew from one oil company facility to another in a single-engine four passenger plane to teach. As in so many aspects of her life, her grit and determination prevailed over her fears.
While in Iran, she married an American, Robert P. Utrecht, who was working as an accountant. She returned to Holland for the birth of her son, Paul F. Utrecht, and two years later, for the birth of her daughter, Claire J. Utrecht.
In 1963, the family moved to Burbank, California. She and Robert were divorced when the children were still very young. Although she did not remarry, she and Eric Hof were together for more than a decade before his death in 1985. She took on the challenge of single-parenting with her typical verve and enthusiasm. She found work as a European language translator for the Peterson Car Magazine, relying on dictionaries for those languages she did not know.
She became a teacher at the Calabasas Montessori School in 1965, and then at the West Los Angeles Montessori School, where she was the principal for one year. In 1971, she struck out on her own to found the Burbank Montessori School.
In search of a permanent location in Glendale, she found the Glendale Centre Theater on Doran Street. She was denied a bank loan to purchase the site, as they did not trust a single mother with a loan of that size. The owner of the theater, who had spent a year in the Netherlands as a Mormon missionary and knew the Dutch to be hardworking, honest people, gave her a personal loan to purchase the site, and told her she didn't have to pay him back until she had enough students in the school. She was able to refinance within two years. Since then the school has been known as the Glendale Montessori School. She later expanded the program to include an elementary school, one of a very few Montessori elementary schools in the US. By the mid-1980s she doubled the size of the campus. Over the decades, the school became an institution in Glendale, and a favorite of employees and actors working for the television and movie industry in Burbank.
She finally retired about four years ago, at the age of 82, after a retirement event in her honor held at the school and party attended by several hundred current and former students, parents, and employees.
She traveled the world, including Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South America, Cairo, Morocco, the Canary Islands, and many places in Europe. She especially enjoyed her frequent trips to Las Vegas. She was smart and funny, opinionated and quick-witted.
Her belief in education defined much of her life. She made sure that both of her children received an excellent education, paying full tuition for private high schools at a time when she was struggling to make the school successful. She loved her son, Paul, an attorney in San Francisco, and her daughter, Claire, an educator in Santa Cruz.
She was pre-deceased by her brother, Albert Lucienne Cohen. She is survived by her children, her twin sister, Josephine Cohen Land, who lives in Friesland, and her half-brother Huub Cohen, whom she first met in 1974, and who lives in Limburg.
Source: San Francisco Gate
Published on: 23-02-2020