4 minute read
Remembering Dr. Marguerite
Remembering
DR. MARGUERITE WERRIN
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BY TAMAR SNYDER
When Marguerite Werrin was just four years old, she was diagnosed with a lazy eye. Her eye healed, but the experience encouraged her to become a doctor— at a time when there weren’t too many female physicians.
Marguerite went on to become a well-respected infectious disease specialist based out of Pennsylvania.
In addition to working at the hospital, Marguerite opened a successful medical practice which she shared with her beloved husband of more than 40 years, Dr. Ron Werrin.
In addition to her family and medicine, Marguerite was passionate about AMIT and absolutely loved its mission.
A longtime and active member of AMIT, Marguerite served for over a decade as President of the AMIT Philadelphia Council’s Shira Chapter.
“She was one of the most magnificent people I have ever met — smart, warm, a wonderful leader in her dignified, warm, and quiet way,” said Robbie Pearlstein, AMIT’s Regional Director, MidAtlantic & New England. “She understood the dynamics and got along with everyone, and was very open to people and ideas.”
For many years, Marguerite suffered from a connective tissue disorder that made her physically weak and frail. Yet, the illness never stopped her from accomplishing her goals and leading a full and meaningful life.
When it was difficult for her to leave her house, AMIT members would show up at her home and Marguerite would run AMIT meetings from her place at the head of her dining room table. AMIT gave her life a tremendous sense of purpose, Ron said. “She believed in the amazing mission of AMIT and would speak about it quite often.”
Her drive served as an inspiration to everyone who knew her. “She had so much courage and tenacity, and she always looked at the positive,” said Robbie.
Though Marguerite needed a wheelchair to get around for much of the last 12 years, she didn’t let that restrict her. She and her husband traveled to Israel several times and visited various AMIT schools throughout the country. During the second intifada, the couple visited AMIT Frisch Beit Hayeled in Gilo. “The area was under
siege and there were sandbags to ensure bullets wouldn’t get into the building,” he recalled. “They let us in and we were so impressed by the idealism of the school, and the values they were imparting in the kids. We were both very taken by it.”
One of Marguerite’s best qualities was her ability to accept help from others. “It was very brave of her — not many people are willing to be seen in a wheelchair and be dependent on others,” Ron said. “But she made the decision that she wanted to live and have a meaningful life, and that’s exactly what she did.”
When Marguerite’s mother, Mrs. Emilie Weill, z”l, passed away at age 97 in 2020, Marguerite and Ron memorialized her by rehabilitating an old Sefer Torah that was originally written before World War II. They donated the Sefer Torah to AMIT Tiferet Gur Arye Junior College at AMIT Hammer in Rehovot. Before they had this Torah, the students had to borrow a Sefer Torah from a local shul for their daily minyan. In June 2021, the family participated in a Hachnasat Sefer Torah on Zoom, which their daughter and her family who live in Israel were able to attend.
“It was the last simcha that Marguerite attended,” Ron said.
Sadly, Marguerite passed away in August 2021. Given her passion for AMIT, she had generously made a legacy gift years ago by naming AMIT as a beneficiary of her IRA. To honor Marguerite’s memory, her family is rehabilitating and rededicating two more Sifrei Torah to be donated to AMIT schools. One Torah will be named for Marguerite, and the other will honor the memory of Ron’s late parents, Sophie (Shaindel) and Dr. Nathaniel (Noach) Werrin. The family plans to attend a Hachnasat Sefer Torah in person this time at the end of April, while also celebrating a Bar Mitzvah. “It will be a very big simcha,” Ron said.
In addition, the Conversational English Program at the AMIT Sderot Religious Junior and Senior High School will be renamed in Marguerite’s honor. It will now be known as the Marguerite Weill Werrin Conversational English Program. More than a quarter of students at the Sderot school are members of the Ethiopian community, and nearly half of the seventh grade students come from low-income homes and do not even know the English alphabet. Helping these students master English was one of the last critical projects that AMIT Philadelphia supported under Marguerite’s leadership.
Even though this special woman is no longer with us, she continues to give in so many ways.
