Aileen Kohn Beckman spent years studying what made children laugh. She read the literature, examined the theories and earned a doctorate from the University of London, writing her dissertation on humor in children’s literature.

Her son Bradley Beckman remembered that “my mother spent years studying humor academically and somehow concluded that a well-timed fart joke was still undefeated.”

The observation captured Beckman’s ability to bring intellect and playfulness together. She was a teacher and scholar who loved serious learning, but she also possessed what her son called a “brilliant laugh.” She sang throughout her life, performed in musicals, devoted herself to children and helped lead one of the Main Line’s Reform congregations.

Aileen Beckman died on June 14 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. She was 93.

Raised in West Philadelphia, young Aileen grew up surrounded by her mother, grandmother, her aunt, cousins and other members of a close extended family. Her father, an insurance salesman, died when she was young, leaving her mother to return to work as a secretary for the School District of Philadelphia.

Bradley Beckman said the loss contributed to his mother’s determination.

“Her dad died early, which made her work that much harder as a student and then as just a person that’s part of their community.”

Music became both an outlet and a constant presence. At West Philadelphia High School, she distinguished herself academically while singing and acting in school productions. She also sang on programs broadcast by WXPN and WHYY.

“It was her release,” her son said. “It was what she loved to do. She loved to sing, and she sang all the time.”

At 17, she met the love of her life, Donald Beckman, at Hillel at the University of Pennsylvania. He was 18, a Penn student and a member of the ROTC program. The two began dating and quickly decided they wanted to build a life together. They married on July 14, 1952, when she was 19 and he was 20.

Both were exceptional students. Donald Beckman graduated first in his class at Central High School, Penn and Penn Law School before beginning a Philadelphia legal career. Aileen Beckman studied English and education at Penn and graduated at the top of her class.

She was already a mother by the time she completed college. Their first son, Howard, was born while she was still a student. Two more sons, Richard and Bradley, followed as she taught in the School District of Philadelphia and supported her husband while he attended law school.

The demands were substantial, but education was never simply a credential for Beckman. Curiosity was central to her personality.

“She loved to learn, and she loved to help others in learning about lots of different things,” her son said.

She earned a master’s degree in education from Penn and devoted much of her career to children with special needs. Her son believed the work suited qualities she possessed in abundance: patience, empathy and the ability to understand that no two children learned in quite the same way.

“It takes an extraordinary degree of insight and patience, and she had both of those qualities,” Bradley Beckman said.

In the 1970s, her husband’s law firm sent him to London to help develop its international offices. The couple lived there for about seven years. While the assignment offered travel and cultural opportunities, Beckman was not content to spend her days sightseeing.

She enrolled at the University of London and completed her doctorate, turning her lifelong affection for children, books and laughter into scholarship.

Humor also shaped the atmosphere of her home. She laughed easily, enjoyed telling stories and often gathered with friends for evenings of bridge in which the conversation and joking mattered at least as much as the cards.

Music and theater remained equally important. Beckman performed in productions that included “South Pacific” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” often in leading roles that required singing and dancing.

Main Line Reform Temple was an important part of the Beckmans’ lives. Aileen and Donald Beckman joined the congregation in the 1950s and remained deeply involved for decades.

Donald Beckman served as president of the congregation, and Aileen later held the same position. She also led the temple’s Sisterhood and participated in services, performances and other congregational programs.

At her funeral, Bradley Beckman said, a rabbi described his parents as “legends at Main Line Reform.”

Her son said she identified strongly as Jewish, though her values were expressed less through declarations than through the way she treated people. She tried to see the best in others, approached life with optimism and believed kindness was an obligation rather than an abstraction.

At home, she was an attentive and involved mother. She supported Cub Scout activities, while her husband later became a Boy Scout leader. When Bradley delivered the Main Line Times as a boy, his mother drove him along the route during bad weather so he could toss the papers from the car window.

“She loved us unconditionally,” he said. “She was patient. She was kind.”

Her life also included profound loss. Her husband and two of her sons, Howard and Richard, died before her. Bradley Beckman said she carried that sorrow with strength, although such losses were not something a parent ever overcame.

Her four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren became a source of immense happiness.

In her later years, her greatest joy remained the same as it had been throughout her life: being surrounded by family and friends. Her son remembered her as a woman who never lost faith in the people she loved or in the possibility of goodness.

The lesson she left him was simple, expressed in words she repeated often:

“Do your best and remember I always love you.”

“Mom certainly always did her best. She spent her life caring for others. She cared for her students, her friends, her family, her synagogue and never had an unkind word to say about others.”

Ellen Braunstein is a freelance obituary writer. She welcomes suggestions for individuals who had meaningful ties to the Philadelphia Jewish community. Email csix@midatlanticmedia.com.