Christina Elizabeth Cunningham Postema, age 64, passed away in Ann Arbor on January 7, 2024 surrounded by her family.
Chrissy influenced those around her, especially her family and her students, to see the world through an inquisitive, peaceful, and kind lens. Chrissy was a devoted mother to her four children. Chrissy was also a lover of words and books, was passionate about music and choral singing, and was happiest in the garden or in nature. She was an accomplished academic book editor, then turned public school teacher and elementary school media specialist. “Mrs. Postema. I need a book” was music to her ears. “Yes, yes you do,” she would say.
Chrissy lived in Ann Arbor all but 8 years of her life. She was born in New Jersey in 1959 and moved with her family to Ann Arbor that same year. She grew up with her three siblings, Terry, Peter, and John, in the white house with the big red door on Copley Ave. She was a proud graduate of the Ann Arbor Public Schools She attended Burns Park, Tappan, and Pioneer, where she was the valedictorian of the Pioneer High class of 1977. Her father Roger was a law professor at the Michigan Law School. Her mother Beth was a homemaker who cared for the gardens at St. Andrew’s Church.
She is predeceased by her parents and her beloved older sister Terry Beem. She is survived by her husband Stephen Postema, whom she married in 1982, and their four children, Ben (San Rafael, CA), Jake (San Diego, CA), Tess (Ann Arbor), and Elizabeth (Chicago, IL). She is also survived by her two brothers, Peter (Stephanie) of Tallahassee, Florida, and John (Tina) of Deep River, Connecticut, and a total of 15 nieces and nephews spread across the country.
Here are some things about Chrissy’s life which I, as her friend then husband, had the good fortune to observe since 1974. “Did you learn anything of particular interest listening to us?” was the first thing Chrissy ever said to me. October of 1974. Fittingly, it was in the Ann Arbor Pioneer High School Library. We were both 15 and in 10th grade. At a nearby table had been a group of young women classmates discussing Great Expectations. My first words to her were that it seemed liked she had read the book very carefully. She looked at me somewhat puzzled, as if there was any other way. I learned soon after that she was a free spirit, was kind, and was an excellent seamstress who made her own clothes. She was also a pianist, singer, and figure skater. And she really loved books.
Junior year at Pioneer, we sat next to each other in American History, and near each other in Choir. She had a beautiful voice and I liked to watch her sing in class because she was so focused. As we had been assigned as singing and dancing partners in the upcoming school musical, she promised to help me learn to sing in tune. And she did.
It turned out that she took piano lessons up the street from our house on Covington and so she began to come over on Thursdays for dinner after her lessons. Chrissy was a welcome addition to the Postema family dinners. She was a calm and quiet presence. As my mom had advised me: still waters run deep.
In college, at Harvard University, Chrissy was an avid learner, with a wide range of academic interests: religion, literature, botany, poetry, and history. A choral enthusiast her whole life, she loved singing all four years of college with the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. (She toured Europe after college with this special group.) She graduated in 1981, and was selected for Phi Beta Kappa. We were married the summer of 1982.
Chrissy was an excellent writer and editor. She began working as a magazine editor in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1982. She eventually attended the Radcliffe Publishing Course in 1984 and then became an academic book editor at the University of Michigan Press in Ann Arbor, where we returned to live in 1985. She could edit a book on any subject matter. She could coax even the crustiest and most territorial academic into improving their work. She brought clarity and coherence to others’ words.
She eventually left U of M Press after Jake and Tess were born to become a full-time stay-at-home mom for 8 years (and a sought-after part-time freelance editor for publishing houses across the country). She enjoyed it. She filled the house with books and music and food. “Here is an interesting thing to know about,” I would often hear her say. She taught Sunday school and sang at church. She loved going to Lake Michigan and to her grandparents’ home on the Connecticut River. Her favorite tapestry had the words: Live. Love. Sing.
“I can’t wait to show you how I set up the school library,” Chrissy said in 2007, as she began her first full-time teaching job in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. As our kids grew older, she decided she really wanted to teach the thing she especially loved: books and reading. So, she went back to school and obtained a Master’s degree and a teaching certificate through the University of Michigan School of Information. She particularly enjoyed doing her master’s projects at night on the dining room table with the kids doing their homework alongside her.
She was the librarian/media specialist, mainly at Abbot Elementary, and also part-time at Eberwhite and then Angell. She was a well-liked teacher and became a co-chair of the Media Department for the school system for a period of time. She tended her libraries at each school with great care, like her gardens. She loved children’s literature and had an extensive personal collection that she had started when she was a young.
The year before she began teaching full-time, the day after she had begun her student teaching in 2006, she had gotten a difficult prognosis concerning breast cancer. Nevertheless, she completed her student teaching during this time. The cancer eventually left her. Having faced this, she was grateful for every day and lived her life accordingly.
But cancer came back in the form of metastatic breast cancer in 2020. She began to spend a significant amount of time at the U-M Cancer Center and she was grateful for her excellent care there. She had to retire from teaching. She set up a website to keep in touch with friends and relatives. She called it “Peace Like a River.” She got a pet therapy dog named Coco from a rescue and they liked to watch Jeopardy! together. She was active with Jake in a trivia contest called the Learned League. She was in many book groups over the years.
She also listened to and sang all sorts of music during this time. She had sung in many different choirs and groups throughout her life. She particularly liked her choral music, as well as Motown, folk, rock, and gospel. She loved these words from the beautiful spiritual: “My life goes on in endless song, above earth’s lamentations/It sounds an echo in my soul. /How can I keep from singing?”
It is with gratitude that Chrissy lived her life, raised her family, and taught her students. She was a modest, gracious, and thoughtful person. She took real joy in picking out just the right book for a family member or friends. She was a careful listener, influential teacher, loyal friend to many, and wonderful life partner. She sang throughout her life until she couldn’t any longer; and even then, she hummed.
