Clare C. Lyden, 91, who was a kindergarten teacher for 32 years at Francis W. Parker School, died Monday in her home in the Old Town neighborhood.
“She was one of the forerunners of preschool education,” said her nephew, R. Robert Lyden. “She was a very caring person for the young, as shown not only by her work in the classroom but also by her efforts through UNICEF.”
Miss Lyden, who graduated from the University of Chicago and from the American Conservatory of Music, received a master’s degree in child development from Columbia University.
She taught at the University of Chicago Nursery School and in Winnetka public schools before joining the faculty of Francis Parker, located in Lincoln Park.
In the late 1930s, she was a consultant for the government-sponsored WPA schools. During World War II, she served in a similar capacity for the Lanham Act preschools and later for the Head Start program.
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Miss Lyden taught summer classes at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, and at Emory University in Atlanta. She also gave summer demonstration kindergartens at U. of C.
She was past Midwest area vice president of UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, and a life member of its board of directors.
She has no immediate survivors. Services will be private.