Nelly D Chinn

Nelly grew up in Casablanca, Morocco in a society where the magic of the Arabian Nights co-existed with the rationality of the western world. Within her family French, Spanish, Moroccan Arabic and English were all spoken. She lived through World War II, German occupation and liberation. After the war, she married her knight in shining armor, Harry Chinn, an unpredictable and irrepressible Liverpudlian whom she met while he was serving in the RAF. They lived in England, then Casablanca, and, while working on the American Air Base, Harry was persuaded to come to America to continue his studies. With the exception of a year back in England, they raised their two daughters in America.

Nelly already had the equivalent of a college degree from Bordeaux University, but she returned to school and earned her BA in French Literature and Language, with a Spanish minor, from Douglas College, and an MA from Assumption College. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and had a distinguished career as a high school language teacher and Head of the Foreign Language Department in Hunterdon County, NJ. She was one of the first to become involved with computer use in the classroom. She also established an exchange program with a school in Paris and traveled frequently, including taking students to France every year for many years. One innovative program she facilitated was “The French Bus”, literally a bus that travelled throughout New Jersey with artifacts and materials about France. Her many awards included the Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Knight in the Order of Academic Palms). Nelly gave many talks over the years, both on professional topics and Morocco. She has been published in French magazines.

In retirement, Nelly, wrote her memoirs, painted and scrapbooked, and continues to be an inspiration and great source of knowledge to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.