Brazzil
Obituary
October 2002
Foreign language teachers throughout the U. S. join the Brazilian community of Washington, D. C., in mourning the loss of Prof. Haydée Simões Magro. A noted pioneer in Portuguese language instruction in the U.S.A., Prof. Magro's extensive teaching career came to an untimely end when, after a brief illness, she died in Washington on April 27, 2002.
Prof. Magro came to the United States after completing her studies at the Caetano de Campos Teachers College in São Paulo. She continued her studies here at Columbia University and Georgetown University. Subsequently, as a recipient of fellowships from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, during the summers 1966-1970 Prof. Magro carried out further studies at the Faculdade de Letras of the University of Lisbon, where she was awarded a diploma in philology with a concentration in Portuguese literature and civilization.
Prof. Magro taught courses in Portuguese language and Brazilian literature for almost forty years in Washington, D. C. She was an instructor at the Vox Language Institute and the Berlitz School of Languages before joining the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute (BACI), under the auspices of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1964. During her thirty-eight years at BACI, Prof. Magro taught thousands of people from all walks of life. Among her students were government employees, college students, retired persons as well as scores of diplomats of various ranks including a number of ambassadors.
Early in her teaching career, Prof. Magro became a key figure in the promotion of Portuguese language instruction and Brazilian Culture in the United States. Realizing the dearth of adequate instructional materials available at that time in this country, she co-authored with Prof. Paulo DePaula the texts Português: Conversação e Gramática (Portuguese: Conversation and Grammar) for beginning students and Leituras Brasileiras Contemporâneas (Contemporary Brazilian Readings) for students at the intermediate stage of learning.
Português: Conversação e Gramática, because it focused not only on the development of linguistic skills but cultural knowledge as well, was considered innovative at the time of its first publication. The book's concise language lessons are complemented by brief readings on Brazilian theater, arts, education, and literature and a number of the country's traditional folk songs.
The intermediate text, Leituras Brasileiras Contemporâneas, presents contemporary and colloquial usage of Brazilian Portuguese through short stories by such well-known writers as Manuel Bandeira, Cecília Meireles, and Carlos Drummond de Andrade. These two textbooks, both published by BACI, were subsequently adopted for the teaching of Portuguese language and Brazilian literature at numerous colleges and universities in the United States as well as in such countries as England, Suriname, Finland, Kenya, Japan, Guyana, Libya, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Prof. Magro's unfortunate passing leaves behind her unfinished work on a Portuguese-English dictionary of Brazilian idiomatic expressions. In addition to her activities at the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute, in the 1970s Prof. Magro was a lecturer in Portuguese at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Service. Her expertise in Portuguese language instruction reached an international level when, on invitation by Nagano University and Tokyo University, she traveled to Japan to undertake the restructuring of the teaching of Portuguese in those institutions.
During her remarkable teaching career, Prof. Magro played a very active role in professional organizations on both local and national levels. She participated in meetings to promote the teaching of Portuguese in the United States not only at the college level but in high schools as well. She was a member of the Modern Foreign Language Association (MFLA), the Greater Washington Association of Teachers of Foreign Languages (GWATFL), and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). She furthermore served as President of the Washington, D. C. Chapter of AATSP for seven consecutive years. In recognition of Prof. Magro's work for the advancement of Portuguese studies in the United States, she was inducted into the National Portuguese Honor Society, Phi Lambda Beta.
Students, friends, and coworkers will miss Prof. Magro's dedication to teaching, her polished demeanor, and her keen sense of humor. In the words of Prof. Paulo DePaula, who worked with Prof. Magro at BACI during the 1960s, "Haydée's finesse, knowledge, and work attitude turned our daily labor into real pleasure with valuable results…"
In addition to their textbooks, the collaboration of Magro and DePaula firmly established BACI as a leading center for the study of Portuguese language and Brazilian literature in the Washington, D. C. metropolitan area. As for Prof. Magro's sense of humor, Prof. DePaula relates, "Haydée had a great sense of humor and, once in a while, we'd have a laugh at one of her stories, such as when she inquired about a `banheiro'(Brazilian Portuguese for restroom) at the beach in Faro, Portugal, and had a poor soul run around screaming frantically: `Banheiro! Banheiro!' In Portugal," he adds, "banheiro is the word used to call for a lifeguard!"
A memorial mass celebrated by Monsignor Raymond G. East was held on June 15 at the Church of the Nativity in Washington, D. C. Following the mass, friends, relatives, coworkers, and former students gathered at the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute for a memorial program and reception organized by Dr. Eloise Spicer, past president of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of AATSP.
Prof. Magro was born on December 12, 1920, in Recife, Pernambuco. She is survived by her sisters, Hebe de Carvalho of Salvador; Niobe Nardon, Diana Simões Magro, and Cybele Simões Magro, all of São Paulo, as well a host of nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, and cousins.
In spite of the birth date provided by her family, it seems that Prof. Magro considered a different date as her birthday. According to Prof. DePaula, "Most memorable to me was what Haydée considered her greatest disappointment in life. The seventh of September is Brazil's Independence Day, and the daylong ceremonies include parades, bands and fireworks. Her disappointment came when, at the age of five, she discovered that the festivities were not intended for her. The seventh was her birthday, and she thought the honors were due her. This is something I remember with a smile and at the same time with pride. The child who was born on the seventh of September went on to become a bulwark of Brazil abroad—a pioneer messenger, anchored in Washington, D.C., who spread her love for her country, language, and culture with the most graceful dedication."
Books mentioned here are available at the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute: phone 202-362-8334 and Luso-Brazilian Books: phone 800-727-5876; www.lusobraz.com
James H. Kennedy, a former student of Prof. Magro, is with the Office of Bilingual Education of the District of Columbia Public Schools. He can be reached at esl202@hotmail.com