Mary Sims, Longtime Manor College Professor, Set to Retire
Sims served for 33 years at Manor College. She retires from full-time employment at the Jenkintown institution after this semester.
Mary Sims was 33 years old when her first husband, Robin Weymueller, died in a sudden and tragic car crash in 1993.
While they had known each other for decades, their life together was just beginning. Sims started her law firm months before the deadly crash and began working as an adjunct professor in 1992.
His death was a tremendous loss, Sims said, and not only because Weymueller had been her best friend. They owned a home, but the pair weren’t rich. She struggled emotionally and financially.
Sims took more than a month off from running the law firm. She remembered receiving phone calls from people to her firm who’d say, “I’m sorry what happened to you, but I have a problem.” She was angry, and the lack of care only made her angrier.
While she took a prolonged absence from her firm, Sims found herself back in the Manor College classroom less than a week after Weymueller’s death. Although she was an adjunct, her coworkers at Manor showed up in force at Weymueller’s funeral. Manor, she said, became an escape.
“I came back a week later because I just wanted to teach my class,” Sims said. “I was doing a lot of estate work with his death, but I needed to do something positive. I went to school at St. Basil’s Academy and I grew up in Fox Chase. Manor always made me feel like I was home.”
After more than 33 years serving at Manor College, Sims will retire from full-time employment at the Jenkintown institution after this Spring 2025 semester.
“I’m not totally reconciled with the whole thing,” Sims said. “I just really felt it’s time.”
Sims’ career in teaching began in a courtroom. She was a litigator after receiving her law degree, but after spending time in the courtroom, Sims felt that something was missing. A friend suggested she try teaching.
In the classroom, she rediscovered her passion for law.
“I believe when you have some kind of skill, you need to pass it on,” Sims said. “I just liked interacting with the students. They kept asking questions about my life, what would happen in courtroom situations and more.”
It’s the students, she said, that kept her going, whether it was through Weymueller’s death or when she first thought about retirement.
“I kept saying, ‘When this group of students leave, I’ll leave,’ but then I didn’t,” Sims said.
Above everything else, students found a supportive voice in Sims. Sheresa Palmer graduated from Manor College in 2022 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration. She went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Forensic Psychology from Neumann University and is enrolled in law school.
“One remarkable thing about Mary is that it was never about ‘I,’ but always about ‘we,” Palmer said. “When I first met Mary, I had switched my major from psychology, feeling overwhelmed during my first year of college. I remember sitting in her office, tears streaming down my face, asking why school felt so hard. Mary encouraged me to sit down, assuring me we would figure it out together.”
Anthony Caristo graduated from Manor College with his Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice. He’ll graduate from Bryn Athyn College in May with his Bachelor’s Degree in Pre-Law before attending Widener University Delaware Law School in August. He called Sims, “the embodiment of what it means to be a Blue Jay.”
”Inside and outside of the classroom, she always made herself available,” Caristo said. “Her advice is second to none. She was and still is the mentor that I wholeheartedly cherish.”
That dedication stuck out to her peers as well.
“Mary holds a significance in my life that words cannot fully capture,” said Doruntina Ukella-Rukiqi, Program Director for Criminal Justice at Manor College. “Mary is a Godsend to me. She is proof that good people exist. I often wonder what good did I do in life to be deserving of a wonderful friend and mentor like her.”
Dr. Cherie Crosby-Weeks, Program Director for Education Programs at Manor College, added, “Mary is a remarkable human being who truly embodied the Manor Mission in everything she does for her students and colleagues. She was an A+ colleague with whom I enjoyed working and engaging in service to the community during our time together at Manor.”
Outside of Sims’ brother Tom, who serves as Vice President of Advancement at Manor College, Assistant Professor of Math Leslie Weinfeld has known Mary Sims the longest. Mary’s first husband was Weinfeld’s brother’s best friend and served as best man at his wedding.
“The best way I could describe Mary is joy,” Weinfeld said. “Even now as I think about her, I am laughing. Mary has one of the kindest hearts. I can truly say she is an amazing woman.”
Sims plans to spend her retirement traveling and spending time with her second husband, Richard Samuelson. She’ll also dedicate more time to music. She’s played piano and currently teaches one student. She purchased a small drum kit and began learning.
Even in retirement, Sims wants to continue to find ways to help students. She spent part of this month writing recommendation letters for students applying to law school, including Caristo. After all, she said, the students at Manor are among the most inspiring and resilient people she’s ever met.
A few weeks ago, a Manor College alum reached out via email. The former student told Sims, “You don’t know how much your belief in me helped me.”
“That’s not the reason I do it,” Sims said. “Manor students come in with a lot of strikes against them. Some don’t get any support, financially or otherwise. When a student isn’t doing well, I try to find out what’s going on. Usually, it’s because someone told them that they couldn’t (succeed in college). Not that I’m this superhuman person or anything, but I felt like I could help them. I wanted to tell them that they can do this.”
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