Jane Elizabeth (Showerman) Strong died on March 24, 2017, after a stroke, at Arbor Ridge extended care facility in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her family by her side. She was 78.
Born in Amsterdam, New York, on April 28, 1938, she was an excellent student, was valedictorian of her high school class in Fonda, New York, and graduated with honors from the State University of New York at Albany. She taught English and social studies at the Ocean Avenue Junior High School in Patchogue from 1959 until 1961, when she married John Ashley Strong of Schuyler Lake, New York. She and her husband lived for a year in Bir Zeit, Jordan, where she taught social studies at Bir Zeit Junior College.
Upon returning to the United States, she attended graduate school, studying reading education at Syracuse University, and taught reading in Liverpool Public School.
In 1964 she and her husband moved to Southampton, where she taught reading at Southampton Elementary School. In 1983 she became a counselor and tutor in the Higher Educational Opportunities Program (HEOP) at Long Island University, until her retirement in 1998. She was named HEOP Educator of the Year in 1992 by the New York State Department of Education and was honored for her career in HEOP education when she retired.
In 1998, she accompanied her husband to Hungary, where she taught English as a second language at the University of Miskolc from 1998 to 2000. After her return from Hungary, Ms. Strong was a volunteer for the Guide Dog training program. In September 2017, she and her husband moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, to be near her daughter Lisa.
She is survived by her husband, John; two sisters, Phyllis Healy of South Carolina and Evelyn Forsyth of New Hampshire; a brother, John Showerman of Vermont; two daughters, Lisa Maria Strong of Silver Spring and Lara Michelle Strong of Budapest, Hungary; and their spouses, Samuel Kerstein and Zsombor Jekely; and four grandchildren, Eli and Evelyn Kerstein and Boldizsar and Sara Jekely.
A memorial service was held in the Garden Chapel on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland on March 31.
Memorial donations may be made to the New York City Ballet and/or to Red Rover: Relief for Animals in Crisis.
on Apr 7, 2017