Glenna Margaret Sloan

Glenna Sloan passed away peacefully on May 16th, 2023. She was born May 9, 1930, and recently celebrated her 93rd birthday. Glenna was raised in Muskoka, Ontario, the daughter of Milly and Beatty Rennie. She is predeceased by her husband Charles of 45 years.  She is survived by her son Mark, his wife Stephanie and their four children Mark Jr., Cadence, Nathaniel, and Daniel all of Summerville. She is also had numerous nieces and nephews in Canada and California.  

Glenna earned a B. A. from the University of Toronto, a Teacher/Performer Diploma in Speech and Drama from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto then a master's and Doctoral Degrees in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

When she lived in Toronto, Glenna was a longtime member of the University Alumnae Drama Club where she acted in the premiere presentation of The Easter Egg by Canadian playwright James Reaney as well as in other productions. She served the Club as producer and in other capacities.

Glenna and her husband lived for more than 30 years in the Village of Garden City on Long Island. During that time she was Director of the Parent Teachers Association for Stewart Elementary School. Glenna was active in the Cathedral Women, an organization of the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in that community, serving for a term as elected president and for several years as program director. She served also as a member of the nominating committees in the Eastern Properties Association, a section of the local government of the Village.

Glenna and her husband lived in Summerville, SC for the last 11 years where they moved to be with their adored son, daughter-in-law and 4 grandchildren. Even though she had officially retired she still found ways to be involved in education whether it was reading in her grandchildren's classes or offering a writing class at their church.  She had a gift and was able to share it throughout her lifetime through many different mediums. She continued to educate and travel as much as possible. She was able to enjoy the fun and chaos of having 4 grandchildren living around the corner and keeping busy.  She was not only a loving wife and mother, but she was also a beloved grandma.  

A lifelong educator and scholar, Glenna taught gifted elementary classes in the Toronto Public Schools, later teaching English as well as serving as elected English Department Chair at St. Andrew's Junior High School in North York, Ontario.   Glenna taught for more than three decades as a full professor as well as serving, for five years, as elected Chair of the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education in the Division of Education at Queens College of the City University of New York. She published seven professional books and numerous articles and book reviews in professional journals in her fields of expertise, children's literature and literacy development.  An application of the theory of Canadian literary theorist Northrop Frye to the development of early literacy, The Child as Critic, is perhaps her most notable scholarly work, in print in 2011 for 35 years. A frequent presenter throughout her career at professional conferences, she was, for example, a keynote speaker in 2008 at the Ninth Annual Northrop Frye Festival in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Glenna was the author of three published novels for young readers.

Known professionally both nationally and internationally, Glenna served in such professional organizations as The National Council of Teachers of English (Elementary Section Committee member); International Reading Association (Chair of the Special Interest Group, Reading and Children's Literature); International Board on Books for Young People (Editor for twelve years of the column on International Children's Books in IBBY's journal, Bookbird.)  Glenna was recipient in 2001 of the International Reading Association's prestigious Arbuthnot Award for outstanding college teaching of reading and language arts. 

Messages of sympathy may be viewed or submitted online at www.mcalister-smith.com.

Arrangements have been entrusted to McAlister-Smith Funeral Home, 869 St. James Avenue, Goose Creek, SC 29445, (843) 553-1551.