Jeanne Arlene Cohen Blackman
February 24, 1936 – February 1, 2021
Jeanne Blackman passed away peacefully on the first day of February at Beacon Brook Health Center in Naugatuck, Connecticut. She was 84 years old and succumbed to complications from hip surgery. Her son Ed was with her in her last days.
Jeanne was born February 24, 1936, in Meadville, Pennsylvania to Robert and Gussie Cohen. Soon afterwards, the family moved to Youngstown, Ohio where Jeanne was raised.
Jeanne devoted her life to teaching and learning. She studied education in college and went on to teach primary school and special education for more than 30 years first in Louisiana and then in southern and central California. In her 50s, she learned Braille and taught visually impaired and other special needs children. After retiring in 2001, she taught dance and flower arranging a local senior centers and pursued a variety of hobbies including gardening, poetry, photography, dance, and yoga. She read constantly and widely her entire life.
Jeanne loved discovery and travel. Not one to stay anywhere for too long, she lived in, among other places, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, San Diego, Chicago, Los Angeles, Forest Falls in the San Bernardino mountains, New Castle (PA), and finally the Southmayd Home in Waterbury, Connecticut, where she moved to be close to her son and grandson.
She had gentle spirit, a great sense of humor and a hearty laugh. In her last home in New Castle, she had a sign on her door that read, “Go around me, I’m retired.”
She is survived by her two sons Edward Blackman of Belmont, MA and Allen Blackman of Chevy Chase, MD, three grandchildren, Lily, Abby and Abner, her sister Shirley Kesselman of Somers, New York and her brother Harry Cohen of San Rafael, California.
A
virtual (Zoom) memorial will be held
Sunday, February 28, at 1:00 pm East Coast time. If you would like to attend but have not received an invitation with a Zoom link, please contact Allen Blackman.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to
Southmayd Home in Waterbury, Connecticut.
The family would like to express its gratitude for Jeanne’s caregivers over the last several years, including Debbie Fabian in New Castle, Kara Cunningham and her colleagues at Southmayd Home, and the nurses at Beacon Brook Health Center.