Each year, The South Orange-Maplewood Adult School presents The Gus and Thelma Sickles Lifelong Learning Award to a community member who exemplifies the spirit of lifelong learning.
Created in 2004, the award is named for the late Thelma Sickles, a long-time SOMAS Trustee who served for almost 40 years, and her husband, Gus, a member of many civic organizations and an avid participant in SOMAS classes.
The award recognizes an individual who embodies the model that Gus and Thelma Sickles established as advocates of lifelong learning: a person who, through their example, has encouraged others to participate in lifelong learning, and through their efforts, has enriched the lives of others in the community.
Award Recipients:
2024
Lori Brown Mirabal, Ed.D, opera singer & educator
2023:
Nancy Solomon, senior reporter and founding managing editor of New Jersey Public Radio; Peabody Award Winner; podcaster, Dead End: A New Jersey Political Murder Mystery
2022:
Karen Weiland, former South Orange-Maplewood School District Supervisor of the Elementary School Social Work Program and creator of The Parenting Center
2019:
Bethany Pettigrew and Tricia Mitchell Benn, co-directors of the Columbia HS musicals
2018:
Melissa Kopecky, Director of the South Orange Library
Sarah Lester, Director of the Maplewood Memorial Library
2017:
Judy James, Director of SOMAS 2014-2017; long-time SOMAS staff member
2016:
Mila Jasey, New Jersey Assemblyperson
2015:
Susan Newberry, Maplewood Township Historian; Durand-Hedden House Trustee & Emerita President; commissioner on the Maplewood Township Historic Preservation Commission
2014:
Patti Nathan, SOMAS Trustee 2001-2014; past SOMAS Secretary
2013:
Sue Marcus, former director of SOMAS, 1995-2013
2012:
Carol Petrallia, retired teacher, Columbia High School; ESL & ABE Coordinator for SOMAS; former SOMAS Co-President & Vice President; SOMAS Trustee 2007-present
2011:
Tom Kerns, co-founder of the HK Project; philanthropist
2010:
Charles Bibbins, SOMAS Trustee 1984-2014; former SOMAS President, Vice President & Treasurer
2009:
Deborah Prinz, Director of the South Orange-Maplewood Education Foundation, now known as the Achieve Foundation
2008:
Richard Cohen, retired teacher, Columbia HS; Liberty Science Center educator; SOMAS Trustee; former Co-Coordinator of SOMAS Children's Summer Program
Treasure Cohen, former Co-Coordinator of SOMAS Children's Summer Program; educator
2007:
Dick Nichols, former Director of SOMAS, 1989-1994
2006:
Cathy Garea, educator; former coordinator of SOMAS ESL Program
2005:
Jane Jasper, longtime former Trustee of SOMAS, 1967-1968 & 1970-2005; SOMAS President, 1980-1986
2004:
Nancy Redpath, volunteer and philanthropist