John Bligh
- Retired UFT District Representative
Barbara Mylite, the UFT’s district representative for District 30 in Queens for 13 years, “was a force but she was also compassionate,” according to Geraldine Clark, a former chapter leader for PS 92 in that district.
“She was very supportive not only of her chapter leaders but all the members in those chapters,” Clark said. “She worked well with everyone, including difficult administrators.”
Barbara was “unstoppable” when it came to assisting union members, and that quality endeared her to them, said her longtime friend and colleague Rona Freiser.
Barbara died on Oct. 22 of urosepsis. She was 72.
Barbara grew up in the Glen Oaks section of Queens and graduated from Van Buren HS and Queens College. In 1976, she became an English teacher at IS 61 in Corona and remained there for 12 years. In September 1988, she transferred to IS 126 in Astoria, where she taught English and special education and became a UFT chapter leader.
“She really loved working with middle school kids,” Freiser said. Decades on, Barbara remained in touch with some of her former students, she added.
In December 1995, Barbara moved on to teach at PS/IS 127 in Elmhurst. Over the next decade, she became connected with the UFT Teacher Center, first as a teacher center specialist and then as the union’s District 30 liaison for the UFT Teacher Center.
That experience convinced her of the value of school-based teacher centers and led her to bring those instructional resources to the schools she would serve later as district rep.
“District 30 was the first Queens district to have a teacher center in every school,” said Freiser, “and that was because of Barbara.”
In 2005, Barbara became the UFT District 30 representative, a post she held until her retirement in 2018.
“She was a great leader,” said Clark, who retired in July 2022.
“She knew the contract,” said Clark, and she would vigorously defend UFT members whose rights were violated.
“Barbara knew how to right a wrong,” she said. “She once told me, ‘I’m not afraid of conflict.'”
“We were union warriors” on behalf of the members, said Freiser, who worked as a fellow Queens district rep alongside Barbara before becoming the Queens borough representative.
Barbara became a well-known figure in District 30 schools.
“When I would go to schools with her, everybody knew her,” said Freiser.
Barbara loved literature, poetry, history, modern art and the music of Amy Winehouse and Bruno Mars.
She lived in Whitestone, Queens. “She had a beautiful home, filled with antiques,” including vintage lamps, Persian rugs, Roseville pottery, Tarkay paintings and “anything dusty rose pink,” Freiser said.
Barbara is survived by two half-sisters, a brother and a sister-in-law, as well as her beloved pet poodle, Maddie, who was adopted by Sandra Electra-Rodriguez, one of her former District 30 chapter leaders.
Asked what she would remember most about her friend, Freiser replied, “Certainly her dry sense of humor and her kindness.”
Following Barbara’s death, UFT retiree Leslie Napolitano wrote the following sympathy message: “Barbara was a phenomenal ally when I needed one during my teaching career. She was so good at what she did. She was funny, and she made a tough time easier.”
I don’t know why I thought of her today and decided to Google her. She was my 7th grade English teacher at IS 61 in Corona and I just remembered loving her class so much!
Memoriam to Barbara Mylite, by Vincent J. Tomeo
You were a petite dynamo.
A purveyor of possibility, outspoken, intelligent, and committed spokesperson to the Union (UFT) cause, kind and caring.
I knew you on a hundred levels. You were an intellectual delight. An excellent teacher, an innovator, and motivator. Your enthusiasm was infectious. You were a titanic voice, that can still be heard today.
Barbara, you did not die. Your voice and work live on in all the people you touched and taught. The precedence you created. The ground rules you herald will live on.
As Abraham Lincoln said, “Writing is the ability to communicate from the grave to the yet unborn.”
Barbara, your message(s) have been heard. You were a visionary, and a humanitarian.
You will be sorely missed.
I will always remember your wry wit, repartee.
Rest in Soft Peace, my wonderful friend!
Barbara was my first district rep when I first became a chapter leader. She was funny and fierce and taught me so much about being a union leader!!