May 18, 2004 – Laura Moolenaar, a longtime educator on St. Thomas who retired last year as principal of J. Antonio Jarvis Elementary School, died Tuesday, May 18, after a long battle with cancer. She was 54.
A memorial service is planned for 10 a.m. Friday, May 28, at All Saints Cathedral.
In a release, Education Commissioner Noreen Michael praised Moolenaar as "a lovely woman, an excellent administrator and a committed educator."
In serving the St. Thomas school district for over 33 years, Michael said, "she was a consummate friend and teacher to the children who attended her classes and later to those where she served as principal. She had a passion for education that was paralleled only by her love and enthusiasm for the Virgin Islands."
Moolenaar had been living in New Jersey, her mother, Leona Bryant, said in a March Source interview. Bryant said then that her daughter had been diagnosed with cancer last summer that she was planning to travel to Moolenaar's home to help care for her.
The Education Department release said Moolenaar joined the department in 1970 and began her teaching career at the Tutu School after getting her bachelor's degree in education from the then-College of the Virgin Islands in 1976. She later taught at Gramboko, Leonard Dober, Peace Corps and Jane E. Tuitt Elementary Schools.
After receiving her master's degree in educational leadership from the University of Miami in 1989, she served as assistant principal at Joseph Sibilly and Joseph Gomez Schools before being named principal at J. Antonio Jarvis.