Mother of four went to college to become school psychologist
In the late 1960s, when a lot of moms didn’t work outside the home, Berenice Malia enrolled at Wright Junior College to learn how to better advocate for one of her children, who struggled with learning differences.
The psychology classes fascinated her. Staying up late at night to study and type papers, walking to school if a ride wasn’t available, she eventually earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and became a school psychologist for troubled teens.
Mrs. Malia was empathetic, encouraging and quick to smile. Students opened up to her, as did her kids’ friends. And there was always room for a few more at her dinner table.
“She touched a lot of people,” said Donald Malia, her husband of 60 years.
“She was always a willing ear,” said their son Daniel. “She helped you think for yourself and come to the right conclusion.”
Mrs. Malia, 81, died Oct. 4 at her Kenilworth home after a struggle with lung cancer.
Born Berenice Mimmack, she grew up on the Northwest Side. Her mother was widowed when her crane- operator husband died in a work accident, Daniel Malia said.
They didn’t have a lot of extras. “She grew up on potatoes and pasta,” said her daughter Doniece Malia- Wall. “Her mom was a single mom. She stressed the importance of getting an education.”
Young Berenice’s world centered around Belmont and Central, a shopping strip anchored by Goldblatt’s, Kresge’s and the Will Rogers movie theater.
She and Donald Malia were the senior prom queen and king at her high school, Madonna. Before he joined the Navy Seabees, he asked her to marry him. When his hitch ended, they wed in 1956. He worked at Zenith as an engineer.
They had four children, and she made each feel special. “My mom always believed in me as an artist and loved every piece of art I created,” said Doniece MaliaWall, who became an artist. “I would never have been so confident in my abilities if it wasn’t for her constant support and belief that I had this talent.”
“She would always make one- on- one time for us, taking us up and down Belmont Avenue shopping,” said another daughter, Donna Malia- Koch.
Once, as a boy, Daniel Malia witnessed his mother leaping to defend a child outside Goldblatt’s.
“This woman had this young girl by the hand and was cracking her, slapping her,” he said. “My mom marched up to her and said, ‘ Don’t you dare touch that kid again. I’ll call the cops.’ ”
When her children were a little older, Mrs. Malia started college.
“When she first went back to school, she didn’t have a car,” said Donna Malia- Koch. “She walked us to school. She would drop us off, all of us, and walk over to Wright Junior College.”
She got her bachelor’s degree at Northeastern Illinois University, a master’s degree from Loyola University and did postgraduate work in psychology at National Lewis University.
“She had an old manual typewriter, a metal jalopy, and she typed her master’s on that,” Donna Malia- Koch said. “She would type all night.”
Mrs. Malia and her husband made a good team, taking turns with children and chores. “I think they were before their time,” Donna Malia- Koch said. “Some men would be intimidated if their wife went to school.”
For a time, Mrs. Malia helped patients in crisis at Chicago Read Mental Health Center.
And she worked 20 years at a therapeutic special education unit then called LEAP — Lifeskills Educational Alternatives Program — in Township High School District 211, which includes Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Palatine and Schaumburg and parts of other northwest suburbs.
“She loved [ her students], and she stood up to them,” Donna Malia- Koch said. “I remember she told me about one young man, he was about 6- feet- 5 — and she was little — and he literally kicked down her door because he had to see her. She stood up to him: ‘ Now, calm down, it’s almost your turn.’ ”
In retirement, “She would read eight hours a day,” Doniece Malia- Wall said, devouring suspense novels by James Patterson, Lee Child, John Grisham and John Sandford.
Mrs. Malia adored shopping at Neiman Marcus in Northbrook and getting ready for another round of retail by dining at its Zodiac restaurant. She also enjoyed Hackney’s on Harms.
She is also survived by another daughter, Diane Malia; a sister, Marie Steffy; grandchildren Jennifer Langel- Kreuser, Michelle Morrone- Kubes, Christina Morrone, Sarah Beth Wall and Michael Glyndwer Wall; and great- grandchildren Eleanor and Hazel Kreuser and Genevieve Kubes. Her memorial luncheon featured her favorite cocktail — a gin, lemon and honey elixir known as the Bee’s Knees.