The Quermbach Family and Friends

A lifelong teacher and student both in the classroom and in life, Pearl K. Quermbach believed that education was the road to personal satisfaction. Adopted as an infant, Mrs. Quermbach went to work to support herself in her early teens, yet found time to continue her education. She moved to Detroit in 1914 at age 16 for a job as a payroll clerk, but still managed to earn her high school diploma. She eventually earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Detroit and took post-graduate classes at five different area universities.

Mrs. Quermbach began her teaching career prior to World War II by teaching night school and summer school in Detroit, and later, she taught at Ms. Newman’s, an exclusive school for girls. When her husband died in 1940, she turned to teaching on a more rigorous schedule to make an income for her four daughters, eventually taking a full-time job in Monroe in 1947. She “retired” in 1967, but returned to teaching for a year at a local parochial school at age 70.

Mrs. Quermbach’s efforts to “sell” education to students when compulsory education was not yet the law are still legendary. She would often take students to Stratford, Ontario, to see a Shakespearean play, then to Tiger Stadium on the way back, astounding her troupe with her ability to speak both “Shakespeare” and “baseball.”