2006
Molly Polacoff, 97, a retired District elementary school teacher, died Feb. 10 at her Arlington home. She had dementia.
Miss Polacoff taught from 1927 to 1965 at Peabody Elementary School and Francis Scott Key Elementary School but primarily at
Hyde Elementary School in Georgetown. She taught first and second grades, sometimes in the same room, and turned down
several offers to work in high schools and colleges so she could teach young children to read, her forte.
She was born near Kiev in Russia, where her mother sewed uniforms for the Cossacks. She, three siblings and their mother
immigrated to the United States in 1910. The family moved to Arlington in 1911 and operated Finkelstein's grocery story on
South Second Street for many years.
Miss Polacoff graduated from Western High School in 1925 and from Wilson Normal School (later Wilson Teachers College) in
1927. She retired from teaching in 1965.
Although she never married or had children, she was close to her six nieces and nephews. She had no other immediate
survivors.
Mss Polacoff, was my 1st grade teacher.
Web-Master, Richard Beasley