Honoring a Legendary Teacher

An educator in Southern California for 40 years, Mabel Looney’s legacy lives on through an endowment for teacher education at the School of Education.

In 1931, Mabel Looney began her first day of teaching at the Lindbergh Elementary School in Buena Park. Over the next 40 years – working as both a first-grade teacher and administrator – Looney would not miss a single day of work.
 
“She was a wonderful woman, and completely unselfish,” said Jim Looney, Mabel’s nephew. “She worked very hard to give me, and many others, an education.”
 
Jim and his wife, Claudia, recently established the Aunt Mabel Looney Endowed Fund for Teacher Education at the UCI School of Education. Endowment income will be used for research and programmatic opportunities in teacher education, with a particular emphasis on early literacy. The endowment will create tremendous opportunity to translate research into illustrations of best practices for teachers, administrators and parents.

“The UCI School of Education has an extraordinary reputation, and we’ve been extremely impressed with the focus, breadth and depth of the programmatic, educational and research pieces that go into making education across the region and state better,” said Claudia Looney, Jim’s wife. “We’re particularly interested in the next generations of teachers and making certain that they have the heart and soul to go with an extraordinary set of skills, and are the kind of teacher you want teaching your children and grandchildren.”
 
Mabel Looney grew up in poverty in Tennessee in the late 19th century. Her family, including her brother/Jim’s father, Willard, migrated across the United States, living off the generosity of strangers who they would encounter.

​“As they came across the United States, they lived in barns, and would eat vegetables or a biscuit given to them by families,” Claudia explained. “They never forgot those humble beginnings, and always appreciated the importance of a good education.”

From Left: Willard Looney, Mabel Looney, and Jim Looney

The family ultimately settled in Orange County. While living in Buena Park, Mabel wrote home to relatives, describing snow on the San Bernardino Mountains and orange trees ripe for the picking.

“The dream of California had come true for them,” Claudia said.
 
Mabel began her career in Orange County as a first-grade teacher at Lindbergh Elementary. In the late 30s, she became principal at Grand Avenue School in Buena Park. As both a teacher and principal, she was known for teaching students how to read.
 
“’Miss Looney,’ as she was known to her students – it was all about reading and teaching students to love reading,” Claudia said.

The most important student she taught to read, however, was her nephew, Jim.
 
Neither of Jim’s parents advanced past eighth grade, he explained. Mabel was self-educated herself, and never had children of her own, instead taking it upon herself to ensure Jim was educated.
 
“She and my mother, Ester, wanted to make sure I had the education that they never had,” Jim said. “Both knew that education was the ticket out of poverty.”
 
Jim would ultimately enroll in what was then Claremont Men’s College before transferring to Whittier College. He also spent a year studying abroad at the University of Copenhagen. Mabel was there, he said, to provide support along the way.

​“She was there for Jim and for me, when I joined the family, throughout her entire life,” Claudia explained. “She was frugal, never spent a dime on herself, but was generous to a fault with everyone else.”

The first-grade textbook that Mabel Looney used to teach students to read.

In his early years, Jim attended Grand Avenue while his aunt was the first grade teacher. There, he could see firsthand the impact she had on students, and the impact they had on her. It was this relationship, he explained, that fueled Mabel to forty years of perfect attendance.

 
“She saw how her students responded, and the successes they ultimately had,” Jim said.

​To this day, Jim’s favorite activity is reading. Mystery novels are his favorite, and Claudia estimates that reading takes up 90 percent of her husband’s waking hours.
 
Mabel married Lawrence Pendleton in the 50s. Upon her retirement in the 70s, the Buena Park Elementary School District named a school after her, the Mabel L. Pendleton Elementary School.

Claudia remembers a time, after Mabel’s retirement, when adults would approach she and Mabel in public places, and tell Mabel that she was their favorite teacher growing up.
 
Jim and Claudia hope that spirit is carried out through the endowed fund they established.
 
“We hope this endowment will continue a legacy,” Claudia said. “We want it to be so that everyone’s favorite teacher comes from UCI."

From left: Claudia Looney, Ester Looney, Mabel Looney