Retired Elementary Teacher Jean Schneider Passes Away
Jean Schneider, a longtime Huntington elementary school teacher has passed away at 80 after battling esophageal cancer. She worked at Washington, Woodbury Avenue, Village Green and Southdown schools.
Mrs. Schneider was hired as a full-time, tenure track teacher in February 1965 and retired in June 1988. Before joining the Huntington faculty, she substituted in the district during the 1963/64 school year.
A graduate of City College of New York (BA, 1951), Mrs. Schneider, who was predeceased by her husband, obtained a master’s degree at Hofstra University in 1965. “She was a lovely lady and a magnificent teacher,” said Margie Creighton, a district secretary. “All the parents requested her.”
The daughter of immigrant parents, Mrs. Schneider grew up in Brooklyn. Her father died when she was a young child and she lived in a small apartment with her mother, grandmother, uncle, aunt and older sister. She attended CCNY at night and became the first member of her family to graduate from college.
“My parents bought the house in Huntington in early 1959 and moved there from Queens,” said Mrs. Schneider’s daughter, Risa Keene, who lives in New Hampshire. “It was a hard time for them because in addition to having two small children, my mom had recently had a radical mastectomy and they gave her only a small chance of overcoming the disease. But her strong will won out and she became a 50-year breast cancer survivor who provided much support to other women who experienced the disease.”
“As a person, Jean lived life to the fullest,” said retired Huntington teacher Maryann Sacher, who was a colleague and friend of Mrs. Schneider. “Each and every day was an adventure to her and she loved adventures. Jean's journeys took her all over the world and everywhere she went, she gave out ‘smiley stickers’ as a symbol of friendship and peace. Even at her funeral service her daughter Risa gave them out as a tribute to her mother.”
“My mom loved to international folk dance and started dancing with a group that has met at Washington El School for almost 50 years,” Risa Keene said. “This hobby opened many opportunities up to my parents. They learned about other cultures, met people who she remained close friends with for the rest of her life and used some of the dances she learned to create plays for her classes and observed celebrations from many of these other cultures by teaching the dances, preparing food, etc.”
Mrs. Schneider’s granddaughters, Alder, Kendra and Woodra, were her treasures and whenever she had an opportunity, she would share a story or a picture of the three girls.
“My parents also traveled a great deal,” Risa Keene said. “Their travels took them to eastern Europe (Romania, Turkey, Yugoslavia and Hungry, just to name a few), Africa, Scandinavia, Holland, Germany, Spain, France, Italy (visiting with one of Huntington's American Field Service students from 1972), South America, Mexico and all over the U.S. While traveling in Arizona she met a teacher from a Native America boarding school. When she returned she developed many lessons on U.S. Indians. She also wrote a grant which enabled her to purchase many Navaho dolls that she used in her lessons. When she traveled she didn't just watch and sightsee, she interacted with the people and was a participant in whichever culture she was visiting. She used much of what she learned and saw on those trips in her classroom. Wherever she traveled she carried smile face stickers which she would give out to those she met in her travels. She was able to develop a friendship with anyone in any culture and she never ceased writing to them even after many, many years.”
One of the hallmarks of Mrs. Schneider’s life was promoting tolerance of others, understanding people from different ethnic traditions and fostering the inclusion of students with disabilities before it was enshrined in law. “My mom would stand up for what she believed in whether it was popular or not,” Risa Keene said.
In addition to Risa, Mrs. Schneider had a son, Todd, who was born in 1956 and passed away in 1969. After her son passed away she took a year off from teaching and attended evening graduate school at Hofstra. Her granddaughters, now ages 20, 18 and 16, meant the world to the retired Huntington teacher. “She was very devoted to them and it was not unusual for my parents to take care of them for a weekend so they could spend some alone time with the three girls,” Risa Keene said.
Mrs. Schneider was also known to keep in touch with former students. “They loved her dearly,” Risa Keene said. “Some of her students are now teachers because of her influence and some became Spanish teachers because of the Spanish that she taught in the classroom.”
Even though she was ill, Mrs. Schneider continued dancing this year and was a valued member of that tight knit group to the end of her life.
A funeral service was held on March 25 at Temple Beth El on Park Avenue in Huntington.
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