Jul 14, 1942 - May 15, 2021

My big sister, Michèle Dee Stone, crossed the bar peacefully this morning after a mercifully short, two week bout with cancer.  She was the best cook I have ever known and she touched untold numbers of people through her food, her generosity of spirit, and her 40 some odd years of teaching young children in the Oakland Public Schools.  I am having a difficult time imagining a world without her.

- Steve Hyman

Michele with her brother, Steven - circa 1949

The Jewish News of Northern California:

Michèle Stone of Oakland, California, life partner of Harry Howe, passed away peacefully in her sleep early in the morning of Saturday, May 15, 2021, at Kaiser Oakland Medical Center, at age 78.

Born Michèle Dee Hyman in Santa Monica, California, on July 14, 1942, she was the daughter of Frank and Yetta Hyman. Frank was an engineer and moved to various major jobs in Southern California, so she spent her early years in Los Angeles, Mojave, Twentynine Palms, Van Nuys, and Pomona before moving to a home in Claremont that her father had designed. After graduating from Claremont High School in 1960, she moved to the Bay Area, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree with a Decorative Arts major at UC Berkeley in 1964. She earned a lifetime teaching credential and first taught with Oakland Unified School District in 1966. She taught first- and second-grade classes in several different schools and managed to earn a Master’s in Education degree from Cal State Hayward. She taught at Crocker Highlands Elementary School for the last 34 years of a 42-year teaching career.

The wonderful, full life that Michèle was able to build and enjoy in Oakland included a deep and constant commitment to the community and its future growth and well-being, as evidenced by her influence on the hundreds of children she taught with such dedication and satisfaction. Her membership for many years at Oakland’s Temple Sinai resulted in many lasting friendships spanning all walks of life, while providing her with emotional security and support whenever needed. She spent many years also as an active member of Women’s American ORT, helping to support a worldwide network of schools for both children and adults, and was instrumental in the establishment and operation of a local thrift store supporting both her temple and ORT.

Michèle also had a deep love of the arts and performing arts and recognized the singular value they provide to communities. She was a collector of books and objects of visual and creative arts of all kinds. She has been a supporter and subscriber of Oakland Symphony since the days when Calvin Simmons was its director, and was a moving force supporting the Symphony’s educational and outreach programs, donating hundreds of hours every season. She also was a strong supporter and constant volunteer with Piedmont Center for the Arts, where she typically was the first person in the front row for nearly all concerts. She and Harry have also been longtime supporters of and regular attendees at concerts of the New Century and San Francisco Chamber Orchestras, the Philharmonia Baroque and Berkeley Symphony Orchestras, and the SFJazz Center.

Michèle loved the excitement of exploring new places and new ideas, traveling extensively and frequently throughout the United States, and throughout western Europe and the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea areas. She always came home with new friends with whom she stayed in touch over the years. Wherever she went she would be greeted by young adults who had at one time been her students in their first years of elementary school, or adults whose children she had taught. When she was at home, she loved to explore new recipes, to cook for and entertain her many circles of friends, to work on and cherish her rose garden and extensive collection of orchids, and to play mah-jongg and socialize with those with whom she was closest.

After all these years of giving, her final gift was to donate her remains to the UCSF Willed Body program, with the hope that she might thus contribute one day to a better outcome for another person, and at the same time relieving her surviving family members from the tasks involved with a funeral or burial. This final gift also relieves all who knew her from any obligation to travel to a specific location in order to visit her spirit, which will instead always be with all those she knew wherever you are. Gifts in memory of Michèle Stone may be made to Oakland Symphony, George Mark Children’s House, or Temple Sinai Oakland.

Michèle is survived by her life partner Harry Howe, her younger brother Steven Hyman, her son Adam, his wife Eran and daughter Emma, and her son Erik Stone and his wife Erin. An opportunity to celebrate Michèle’s life and share memories together will be planned soon, perhaps late this summer.