Flora Christina (Braxton) Green, 79, died peacefully with her family at her bedside on Saturday, March 28, 2020, after a brief hospice stay. Born on Dec. 25, 1940, to Dupree and Elise (Thompson) Braxton of Savannah, Georgia, where she graduated from Alfred E. Beach High School and earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Savannah State College in 1962.
She married Richard Charles Green Jr. in 1967 and soon welcomed a son, Richard, and a daughter, Rona. The couple later embraced their niece, Joann, as part of their family as well. Their young son’s diagnosis with an intellectual disability shifted the trajectory of their professional life, changing her career focus from business to education.
Flora earned a master’s degree in education in 1977 from the University of Illinois Chicago and began her career as a special education teacher at Emerson Junior High School (now Brooks Middle School) in Oak Park. After many years as a classroom teacher, she set her sights on administration, serving as assistant principal of Longfellow Elementary School (1991-1993) and interim principal of Irving Elementary School (1993-1995). She returned to Emerson Junior High as principal in 1995 and led the school through its transition to become Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in 2002. She retired from the Oak Park public school system as the assistant director of Special Education in 2007.
In addition to her professional endeavors, she was a member of the Links Inc., the Jack and Jill Associates, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., and was also an active and involved member of Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park where she served multiple terms on the Vestry. An adventurous and lively spirit, she traveled the world, visiting all seven continents (including Antarctica).
Flora is survived by her daughter, Rona Taylor (Korol); her niece, Joann Braxton Jones; her sisters, Hortense Grimsley and Vivian Rivers (Stanley); and her grandchildren, Kara, Julian and Nina.
Funeral services (long delayed by COVID), will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 18, 2022, at Grace Episcopal Church, 924 Lake St. in Oak Park.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be sent to the American Heart Association or to Grace Episcopal Church.
