John Bligh
- Retired Physical Education Teacher
Eloise Fowle, a UFT retiree who taught physical education in New York City public schools for 31 years, died on April 23, 2024, at age 72. The cause was liver cancer.
Eloise retired in 2016 after 31 years of service. She was a physical education, health and science teacher at IS 313 in the Bronx when she retired. Throughout her career, she coached middle school basketball, volleyball, softball, tennis and fencing, said Nicole Fowle, one of her four daughters and a teacher at PS 361 in the Bronx.
“She loved her job,” she said, adding that Eloise enjoyed a great rapport with students.
Mxolisi Malunga, a teacher at IS 313 and a former chapter leader there, said Eloise had high expectations for all her students and colleagues and valued professionalism and punctuality. At the same time, she was “very motherly and very loving,” he said.
“To her, every student was coachable. If they were in her classroom, they were coachable,” he said. “She never gave up.”
Malunga said he adopted Eloise’s philosophy in working with middle school children that each new day is an opportunity to start over.
“She was a big subscriber in not holding any grudges with the kids,” he said. “The kids are going to be kids. Educate them about the right and wrong of what they did in the moment when it transpires, and then as you go on to the next day, take a deep breath and it’s a brand-new day.”
With her colleagues, Eloise was level-headed and looked for middle ground when there were differences of opinion on where to focus resources and efforts, Malunga said. She emphasized that students’ interests came first. “I always remember hearing her voice: ‘They are all our students. We just need to work together,'” he said.
If something were going on at the school – meetings, scholarship dinners, fundraising walks or other events – “you could count on her to be there, you could count on her to support it,” he said. She continued to be active after retirement and often took her husband, Richard Fowle, to social gatherings.
Professional sports played a significant role in Eloise’s life. She was a “sports fanatic,” Nicole Fowle said. “March Madness was her thing,” and she also was an avid New York Yankees and Knicks fan.
Eloise liked to travel and once went on a 40-day trip to Africa. She also visited the Caribbean, Antarctica, Cuba among other destinations.
The Bronx native received her bachelor’s in physical education in 1974 and her master’s in adolescent education (dual general education/special education) in 2014.
She is survived by her husband; her four children – Nicole Fowle, Lauren Caballero, Miranda Fowle and Kamille Fowle; and four grandchildren – Tyler Levine, Brianna Levine, Manuel Caballero Jr. and Maddison Caballero.
Condolences can be sent to:
The Fowle family
1127 Tinton Ave.
Bronx, NY 10456.
