Teacher helped diversify Coraopolis schools
SARAH QUARLES MUNGER | Dec. 11, 1929 - Dec. 3, 2020
Sarah Munger was an educator whose lessons were as much about tolerance and grace as they were about the ABCs.
In 1961, she became the first black teacher at what was then the Coraopolis School District. She faced racist attitudes of some parents who objected to her teaching their children in fifth and sixth grades.
“That’s why I call her a pioneer — it was not an easy task, being the first African-American teacher there,” said her daughter Belinda Miller of Gilbert, Ariz. “Even before she started, there were several parents who did not want their students in her class. But, I was always grateful to the principal — he said, ‘No,’ and told those parents he was not moving their children out of her class. He was confident in her capability to be a teacher. He was not going to do that.”
When classes started, parents would occasionally eavesdrop at her classroom door.
“They would stand outside the door, listening,” her daughter said. “That is what led to parents actually wanting their kids in her class. She became a favorite of the students and parents.”
Mrs. Munger, who moved into her daughter’s Arizona home last year to enjoy the sunshine, died Dec. 3 of heart disease. She was just eight days shy of 91.
Growing up in Coraopolis, Mrs. Munger, nee Quarles, was the youngest of four children.
Bright and determined, she felt drawn to education and children, her daughter said.
“Teaching certainly was her calling,” she said. “It came natural to her.”
Mrs. Munger was the first in her family to graduate from college. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1951 from the University of Pittsburgh.
In August 1952, she married Cornelius S. “Neal” Munger Sr., who she met through a friend. Mr. Munger died in 1992.
After college, Mrs. Munger worked for 10 years as a teacher at Manchester Elementary School before being hired by the Coraopolis district, which became the Cornell School District after a 1970 merger with Neville Island schools.
It wasn’t until years later that she told her children about the hardships she faced in her early days at Coraopolis, where she also served as a remedial reading and gifted teacher.
“I don’t think we realized what an important role she played as a trailblazer,” her daughter said. “I know that she greatly influenced my brother and I to never hold back and to always try.”
Mrs. Munger’s efforts to diversify the district in the 1960s and 1970s — including helping to develop minority hiring goals — were recognized by Coraopolis borough officials during Black History Month in 2013.
While she was teaching at Coraopolis, Mrs. Munger also founded a booster club for the basketball team, where her son Cornelius S. Munger Jr., of Robinson, played.
She retired in 1988, but it didn’t last long, said her daughter, who recalled a never-ending stream of local kids coming to her mother’s home for extra help and tutoring.
“People sought her out. They would bring their kids after school,” she said. “She also taught Sunday school and did some tutoring at a church after-school program.”
Mrs. Munger never stopped learning and even taught herself to play piano after her retirement, her daughter said.
Deeply religious, Mrs. Munger was a member of the Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Coraopolis, and often wrote skits for vacation bible school and plays to be performed on other special occasions.
It was difficult to disappoint her mother, Mrs. Miller said.
“She wrote for Christmas or Black History programs and you know we all had to be in it,” she said of herself and other family members who were often lassoed into performing. “Anytime she would ask somebody to do something, they would say ‘Yes,’ and they would come — they would always show up.”
Mrs. Munger was also a big believer in the power of prayer.
“Her faith was a big part of her life,” her daughter said. “She would always take time to pray for someone and if she knew a family had a need, she would always try to help them.”
Her mother was beloved by her students, both in the classroom and beyond, Mrs. Miller said.
“She got letters from people that she taught and she couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized,” she said. “In the last week, I have heard from so many parents and students who said she was their favorite teacher and tutor. I loved to hear those comments.”
At times, her work felt more like that of a detective than a teacher.
“If there was something going on with a student, she would find out what it was and help,” her daughter said. “She was not just a teacher, but an educator with a really caring heart.”
At this time of year, her mother would normally be volunteering with the Salvation Army and organizing toy drives — or trying out new comedy material at family get-togethers, Mrs. Miller said.
“Every holiday, my mom would have her jokes with her and usually some kind of skit,” she said, laughing. “And she was always volunteering, always filling a need for someone else — taking time to help someone. That was her.”
Along with her children, Mrs. Munger is survived by six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her siblings Robert W. Quarles II, Clara B. Quarles Harris and Pauline Quarles Lockett.
Her funeral was private but the family is planning a memorial service after quarantine restrictions are lifted.