Jeanne Rosen, Longtime Philadelphia Teacher, Dies at 96

By Ellen Braunstein

In classrooms of 30 or more first-graders, teacher Jeanne Rosen stood just 4 feet, 11 inches tall. Her son, Richard, thinks that mattered. “Part of the reason the kids liked her is that she wasn’t that much bigger than they were,” he said. “She told them on the first day, ‘If you listen to everything I tell you, you’ll become very smart — so smart your parents won’t believe how smart you are.’ It seemed to work.”

Rosen, a longtime Philadelphia teacher known for her energy and humor in the classroom, died on Sept. 16 in Bala Cynwyd. She was 96.

She had a knack for connecting with children. “She had total control, and she had a good time with them,” Richard Rosen said. “She came from a family that enjoyed good humor. She loved to dance. On Halloween, she’d come in costume, which other teachers didn’t do.”

Her daughter Rona Rosen remembered her mother’s ability to reach students in ways that stayed with them. “She taught them more than ABCs,” she said. “She taught them how to make decisions.” One former student wrote to apologize for lying, adding that a talk with Mrs. Rosen had taught him how to think through choices. Parents asked principals to place their children in her classroom, and the school district often invited other teachers to observe her lessons.

Music played a large role in her teaching. Rosen, an accomplished pianist, provided accompaniment for school assemblies and used songs to reinforce reading and civics lessons. At home, she played duets with her children, always letting them take the melody.

“When we were growing up, there was always music in the house,” Richard Rosen said. “We later realized it was Chopin and Debussy, along with Henry Mancini.”

After decades in the classroom, Rosen stepped back, but never fully left. She continued substitute teaching in Lower Merion schools until age 79. “She just liked being around the kids,” Rona Rosen said.

In retirement, she swam competitively in local senior events, read constantly and pursued new hobbies, from knitting doll clothes to learning calligraphy for family wedding invitations.

Born Jeanne Kravetz in 1929, she grew up in West Philadelphia in a close-knit Jewish family that had emigrated from near Kyiv at the turn of the 20th century. Her parents, Edward and Minnie Kravetz, emphasized both education and tradition. “My grandmother Minnie earned a nursing degree in the 1920s, which was unusual,” Rona Rosen said. “She pushed my mother to take the academic track at West Philly High — Latin, the challenging classes — and to become self-sufficient.” Jeanne also took 13 years of piano lessons, mastering classical works that she carried with her for life.

She graduated from West Philadelphia High School in 1946 and from West Chester State Teachers College, later completing a master’s degree. Teaching first grade became her professional home. Richard Rosen said her classrooms were filled with working-class children, many arriving without preschool experience. “They came as raw material, and she took them from playing with blocks to reading, writing and arithmetic,” he said.

Judaism was woven into her identity and her family’s life. The Rosens belonged to Congregation Melrose B’nai Israel, then a Conservative synagogue in Cheltenham. Rona Rosen described large family Seders in West Philly and said her mother was proud of her Jewish identity. Richard Rosen recalled his parents’ insistence that their three children attend Hebrew high school, adding 10 hours of Jewish study a week on top of public school.

“Pride, community and education were the point,” he said.

At home, Rosen’s principles were clear. “She taught us to be nice and to write thank-you notes for everything,” Richard Rosen said. She urged her children to help neighbors without expectation of reward. “She said there are things you do because they’re the right thing to do,” he added. She cared for her parents as they aged and modeled responsibility, honesty and resilience.

Family members remember her as warm, well-read, fashionable without being showy and always curious. “She was effervescent,” Rona Rosen said. “She was principled, but she was also fun. She was well-rounded.”

Her marriage to the late Martin Rosen was affectionate and steady. He left her Post-it notes with messages like “Your love for me keeps me young” and “You brighten up a gloomy day.” He died on April 11, 2021, at 92.

Rosen’s children said they often felt like “winners in life’s lottery” because of the parents they had. “Kids don’t get to pick their parents,” Rona Rosen said. “We were lucky. We were raised by good parents who loved us and made us feel worthwhile.”

Asked what Jeanne Rosen hoped to be remembered for, Rona Rosen said: “She just wanted to know she did a good job. That she was a good mother. That we were all happy. She wanted to be remembered as a good person who loved and was loved.”

Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.