LONNY GOLDSMITH
St4fTWriter
s a brash, young student at
Wayne State University in
1956, Margaret Weiner
took time off from school
and began working for Jewish Family
Service at the intake desk, taking calls
sent from the switchboard.
"I saw no point in being an under-
grad," she said. "I thought I knew
what I needed to know.
Rose Kaplan hired Weiner, and
advised her to go back and get her
bachelor's degree because she'd want to
go on and get her master's at some
point. She did go back to school in
the fall of 1956, and eventually earned
her master's in social work with a spe-
cialty in social case work.
In April, Weiner, 68, will retire
from JFS after 37 years of service.
She'll leave as associate director emeri-
tus.
"I'm satisfied because I've done
what I've wanted to here, and I know
I've done well because the agency will
go on once I leave," Weiner said. "I
always wanted to leave before I got
tired of the job and didn't have the
appetite for it."
Looking back, Weiner never
thought she'd have stayed in one job
for nearly four decades, but the chal-
lenges kept her in place.
"Every 2 1/2 years, my opportuni-
ties and assignments would change,"
she said. "I've been very fortunate."
After her stint at the switchboard,
Weiner served as a social case worker,
evaluating 60 percent of the incoming
cases at the agency. Her next move
was to train in the area of group thera-
py. Later, she became a field instructor
for students training at JFS, then a
supervisor, and finally the agency's
director of professional services in
1980. That position was renamed
associate executive director in 1989.
"I only thought in terms of what
type of responsibilities I'd have next,"
she said. "Nothing I did was to get a
raise and I never made a job decision
to get ahead."
Weiner had discussed retirement
with her boss, JFS Executive Director
Alan Goodman, but she put her plans
on hold when her husband of 47
years, Milton, died last year.
"We had met when we were teens
and were married when I was 20," she
said. "I made two major decisions in
my life: my job and my husband, and
I was lucky with each.
"It's amazing the choices that are
A
,
made when we don't have the wisdom
to make good choices."
Weiner attributes much of her pro-
fessional growth to Sam Lerner, JFS
executive director from 1963 to 1989.
"Sam raised me from a pup," she
said fondly. "He knew things about
me I didn't know, and saw things in
me worth developing."
Weiner prides herself on her demo-
cratic working style.
"You need to treat those who you
supervise with respect. If you treat
them like a horse's [behind], they'll
work like one. People respond by how
they're told they act."
In addition to Lerner's tutelage,
Weiner has gained great knowledge
from three sources: the dentist's office,
baseball and kindergarten.
"When you're in a dentist's chair,
you're put in a position where you're
exposing yourself," she said.
"In kindergarten, I learned [to]
always look before you cross the street,
and always think before you speak. I
thought those were so profound."
As for baseball, Weiner never liked
former Tiger Manager Sparky
Anderson because of the way he treat-
ed his players.
"I'm not into blaming people,
because sometimes things just go
wrong," she said. "If you're disap-
pointed in someone's performance, it's
probably your fault for expecting too
much."
Weiner's success as a clinician
earned her the Michigan Clinical
Social Worker of the Year in 1987
from the Michigan Society of Clinical
Social Workers. She was also president
of that organization in 1976-77.
In 1997, she won the Mandell and
Madeleine Berman Award for out-
standing professional service in Jewish
communal work.
Over the course of her career, she
became a licensed marriage and family
therapist, a certified group psychother-
apist and board certified diplomate,
meaning that an accrediting body
accepts her as an expert in the field of
clinical work.
Weiner plans to continue teaching
and consulting for JFS after her retire-
ment and becoming more active in
Congregation Shir Tikvah, although
she's still unsure of what that may
entail. She is also interested in the
possibility of taking up piano.
"Retirement will be just another
challenge for me," Weiner said. "I've
learned that you should always be
aware of what you don't know and
what you have to learn."
❑
2/27
1998
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