The sad story of Monongah High biology teacher Joan Timmins

Maybe you already knew this, but I didn’t so I thought I would share this with others who were as clueless as me about what happened to Joan Timmins Malcolm, a 1943 Mannington High and Fairmont State graduate who was a biology teacher at Monongah High in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In 2012 Otis “Sarge” Shaver, Class of 1948, inquired about former Monongah High biology teacher Joan Timmins, who began at MHS in 1947. I did some research and put out the word, but nothing came of it.

Three years passed by.

This week I was Googling for information for a Monongah High Alumni blog project I was working on and came across news stories about our Miss Timmins.

Joan Timmins Malcolm was married for 42 years to Jess Malcolm and living in Arnold, Virginia. Her mother, Lillie Timmins, lives in Fairmont. Her brother, Edward Timmins, lives in Annandale, Virginia.

On June 7, 1995, according to a Washington Post story I stumbled upon, Joan and her daughter, Pamela Malcolm Hamlin, were killed when their car leaving an outlet mall on Route 31 at Route 18 was struck by a pickup truck in Queenstown, Maryland. Joan was 68; her daughter, 41.

Joan taught for nearly 50 years, in West Virginia and Neshaminy, Pennsylvania and, since 1967, at Glen Burnie High School where she was a math teacher. In 1989, she received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching and was a finalist for state teacher of the year. She was a member of the National Council of Math Teachers. She lived in Arnold, Maryland.

The two stories I stumbled upon about Joann’s final day of life:

June 8, 1995 story in the Washington Post

PAMELA MALCOLM HAMLIN Museum Official

JOAN TIMMINS MALCOLM Math Teacher

Pamela Malcolm Hamlin, 41, an Alexandria museum official, and her mother, Joan Timmins Malcolm, 68, a Glen Burnie, Md., math teacher, were killed June 3 when their car was struck by a pickup truck in Queenstown, Md.

A spokeswoman for the Maryland State Police said the women were leaving the outlet mall on Route 301 at Route 18 when they were hit by a pickup truck.

Mrs. Hamlin, an Annandale resident, was assistant director of Gadsby's Tavern Museum in Alexandria. She began there as a museum aide and also had been curator of education. Earlier, she worked at the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Center.

She was born in Bellefonte, Pa. She was a graduate of Severna Park High School and George Mason University, where she was completing work on a master's degree in applied history. She was a member of Phi Alpha Theta history honorary, the American Association of Museums and the Virginia Association of Museums.

Mrs. Malcolm was a Mannington, W.Va., native and a resident of Arnold. She was a graduate of Fairmont College and taught for nearly 50 years, initially in West Virginia and later in Neshaminy, Pa. She had taught since 1967 at Glen Burnie High School, where she was math department chairman.

In 1989, she received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching and was a finalist for state teacher of the year. She was a member of the National Council of Math Teachers.

Mrs. Hamlin is survived by her husband, retired Navy Cmdr. James Hamlin, and two daughters, Kim Hamlin and Megan Hamlin, all of Annandale; her father, Jess Malcolm of Arnold; and her grandmother, Lillie Timmins of Fairmont, W.Va.

Mrs. Malcolm is survived by her husband of 42 years, Jess Malcolm; her mother, Lillie Timmins; a brother, Edward Timmins of Annandale; and two granddaughters.

And the obituary notice for Joann and her daughter, Pamela:

Joan T. Malcolm

Pamela M. Hamlin

Mother, daughter Services...

June 07, 1995

Services for Joan T. Malcolm, head of the mathematics department at Glen Burnie High School, and Pamela M. Hamlin, her daughter, who was assistant director of Gadsby's Tavern Museum in Arlington, Va., are set for 1:30 p.m. today at First Baptist Church in Annandale, Va.

Mrs. Malcolm, who was 68 and lived in Arnold, and Mrs. Hamlin, who was 41 and lived in Annandale, were killed Saturday in an automobile accident on U.S. 301 at Route 18 in Queenstown.

The former Joan Timmins was a native of Mannington, W.Va., and a graduate of Fairmont College who began her teaching career in West Virginia. Before becoming a mathematics teacher at Glen Burnie in 1967, she taught physics and chemistry at Neshaminy, Pa., High School.

In 1989, she received a Presidential Award for excellence in teaching mathematics, and was a finalist in the Maryland Teacher of the Year competition. She was a member of the National Council of Math Teachers.

At Glen Burnie, she coached the team that appeared on the "It's Academic" television program, and at the Pennsylvania school served as a swimming coach.

The former Pamela Malcolm was born in Bellefont, Pa., and moved to Arnold with her family in 1967.

She was a 1971 graduate of Severna Park High School and later attended the University of Maryland Baltimore County and Monterey Peninsula College in California. She received her bachelor's degree in history in 1993 at George Mason University, where she had also completed half of a master of arts program in applied history.

A resident of Annandale since 1987, she began working the next year for the Office of Historic Alexandria, first at the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Center.

After moving to the museum, she held several posts, and developed or expanded programs such as elementary education, Children's Day, Time Travels and Perceptions of Alexandria History.

She was a member of the Phi Alpha Theta history honorary society, the American Association of Museums and the Virginia Association of Museums.

Mrs. Hamlin is survived by her husband, James; and two daughters, Kim and Megan.

Mrs. Malcolm is survived by her husband, Jess; her mother, Lillie Timmons of Fairmont, W.Va.; and a brother, Edward Timmons of Annandale.

Memorial donations may be made to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation in New York City; or to the Gadsby's Tavern Museum Society in Alexandria.