The Many Faces of Anna

This email is from one of Anna's teachers from Bank St.

Hi Nina Nina, David Wolkenberg here, Anna's teacher when she was in the 5-6's at Bank Street. I was at the memorial today. It was so interesting for me to hear what was said about her. Some of it corresponded to my memories of her, and some significant qualities did not. I found her to be very caring, very kind, very gentle, very supportive, very helpful, and sort of quiet, sort of in repose. Very beautiful eyes. When Anna looked at you, you had been looked into. I never saw the warrior, the overt intensity, the occasional ferocity.

At Bank Street, teachers had individual meetings with each child's parents. One in the fall, and one in the spring, toward the end of the school. Parent Conferences they were (are) called. I very distinctly remember one aspect of my meetings with Dora and Tony. When I described how she was in the classroom, her (your) parents were incredulous. "She never yells or screams," was their question. "She never shouts or gets furious?" "No, she is very even and steady." Dora and Tony described some of the goings on at home, and I observed that she was very different in school. She wasn't tense or inhibited or constrained. She was very relaxed and peaceful. We were very fond of each other.

So, I heard again today the Anna not in my classroom. I loved hearing it. I retired in June of 2001 after 30 years of teaching at Bank Street. Always the 5's-6's, always in the same classroom. I have maintained contact with the school. A couple of years ago someone told me that Anna LoBianco was working there. I was frequently on the verge of going to visit her, or at least emailing her, to make a connection with the adult Anna. I didn't. I'm very reluctant to come in on a person's life when I had a relationship her/him years ago. So, the possibility has irrevocably passed, and I am very sorry about that. I went rooting through my Bank Street photographs, thinking I had a class picture when I was Anna's teacher. I found it, scanned it, and here it is.

The attachment, the photo, is not very sharp because the original isn't. I played around with it a little in Adobe Photoshop but that didn't work out. A fuzzy photo cannot be made clearer, it just becomes worse. Having lived through various deaths I know that the excruciating pain takes a very long time to diminish, even just a little.

So my heart goes out to you. You are in for a rough time.
Best
David

(As if it wasn't perfectly obvious, Anna is center row, third from the right...And there's Paulette, bottom row, all the way to the right.)