Lois Silverstein Durso

Lois Durso, teacher, activist, and beloved and loving wife, mother, and grandmother, died September 5, 2025, at the age of eighty-five.

Lois grew up in Millburn, New Jersey. She was an outstanding student and member of the high school theater group. This rigor and creativity continued at Cornell University, where she found her vocation in biology education and met her love, John Durso. She married John and moved with him to his graduate school, Penn State University. There, in 1961, she completed her BS in Education, specializing in Biology. That same busy spring, her first child was born.

A few years later, she and John took their young family, now with two children, to live in Naples, Italy for a year. Immersion in another culture was a joy to her, one she repeated in coming decades, living in Copenhagen, Denmark (twice) and in Jülich, Germany (countless). In each place, she made friends, learned the language, and embraced the opportunities offered by the new location.

From Naples, they moved to East Lansing, where John completed postdoctoral work. By 1967, when the family moved to their long-time home in South Hadley, MA, she and John were the parents of four children. The children benefited from her enthusiasm for teaching science: learning plant names and characteristics; exploring tide pools; and watching a monarch caterpillar grow fat on milkweed, form a chrysalis, and emerge as a butterfly.

When her youngest child reached preschool age, she answered her calling by becoming a science teacher at South Hadley High School (SHHS), teaching there for 10 years. In her time at SHHS, she started YEA! (Youth for Environmental Action). This group worked successfully to bring curb-side recycling to South Hadley. Lois championed the A Better Chance House and advocated for student responsibility and voice.

A member, representative, and officer of a multiplicity of professional organizations supporting science education, Lois wrote articles and presented at conferences as well as worked one-on-one with colleagues to improve instruction. In 1981, she took her considerable skills to the Williston Northampton School (WNS) and taught there until her retirement in 1997.

Never accepting of the thoughtless, hidebound, or selfish, she continued to support student activism as the faculty advisor to WWHO, the Williston World Help Organization, raising funds for African famine relief, AIDS research, and US hunger relief.

At both SHHS and WNS, she was respected by her colleagues and students alike as an engaged and demanding teacher. Her classes emphasized science as a creative activity with societal implications. Humor played a role in sparking students’ engagement. One lesson invited students to explore the genotypes and phenotypes evident in the flavors, surface textures, and shapes present in a population of candy she provided. Her work won state and national awards, including the 1986 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. She did not confine her efforts to supporting science teaching, though. As a Board Member of the Holyoke Girls Club, South Hadley Democratic Committee, the South Hadley Recycling Committee, and South Hadley Town Meeting, she was a citizen as well as a teacher.

She played guitar, from folk songs to contemporary satire. An avid reader and a prolific knitter of intricate and beautiful sweaters, she even combined these interests by reading while knitting. Keeping a book open with a stand designed and built by John, she knitted and read, pausing only to turn the pages. She took up belly dancing, sewing her own bejeweled costume. Ever the accomplished cook, she made deep explorations of world cuisines.

After retirement, Lois and John moved to Philadelphia’s Center City. There, she continued her activism, volunteering for Planned Parenthood and Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia. She traveled internationally, dyed a lock of her hair a bright and vibrant red, enjoyed the arts offerings of Center City, and gathered another group of friends.

She is survived by her children Catherine, Elizabeth, Gianna, and Anthony, eleven grandchildren, and family and friends, who love her and were loved by her.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests making a donation to an organization that was meaningful to Lois.

Planned Parenthood of South Eastern Pennsylvania: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-southeastern-pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet: https://paacademyofballet.com/