Mileva Simić

Mileva Simić was born on February 15, 1859 in Novi Sad into a renowned family. Her father was the prominent academic painter Pavle Simić and her mother Jelisaveta was the daughter of Grigorije Jovišić, a lawyer who served as Mayor of Novi Sad. At the request of Marija Trandafil, Mileva's father Pavle Simić painted the iconostasis of Nikolajevska Church in the 1860s. The family moved often due to the nature of the father's vocation. In 1872/1873, the family was staying in Sombor since Pavle had been appointed to paint the iconostasis of Saint Đurđe's Church. Mileva was 12 at the time. She learned of the teacher's school and, as a keen learner from an early age, she expressed a desire to enroll in the school. Although she was too young to attend (since she finished elementary school at the age of eight, and girls' school at the age of twelve), with the help of Đ. Vukićević, a professor and religious teacher, she was allowed to become a student of Serbian School for Teachers in Sombor. After graduating with honors at the age of 15, she was chosen to work as a teacher at the newly founded Women's High School in Novi Sad. She worked there for 32 years and for a while she was the headmistress of the school. She never married. Two women influenced the formation of her attitude to life: Milica Stojadinović Srpkinja, an acquaintance of her father’s, and Dafina Nana Natašović, her mother’s sister, whose house was the stamping ground of Serbian intellectuals of the time. Mileva Simić was awarded the Order of King Alexander of the first degree; the almanac Srpkinja (The Serbian Woman), issued in 1913 by the Charitable Association of Serbian Women from Irig named her one of the four most important women associates of literary societies at the time and praised her as a reputable teacher. She was an honorary member of the charitable association Serbian Women from Novi Sad. She spent the final years of her life in a house at 10 Grčkoškolska Street. She was laid to rest in 1946 at Almaško Cemetery.