John Bligh
- Retired teacher
Founding UFT member Jeannette “Jeanie” Ritter, 84, was remembered by a former friend and public school colleague as the “epitome of the qualities we hope for in a teacher: intelligent, compassionate, witty, creative and curious.”
Retired teacher Janet Feldberg said Jeanie, a retired art teacher who died of cancer on July 1, 2021, “was dedicated to her students. She always spoke about them with kindness and understanding, and was an inspiration to us all. She walked among the art tables with grace and humor.”
Jeanie started her career at JHS 13 in Manhattan where, as yearbook adviser, she helped the staff design artistic pages while making it fun. Feldberg said they often spoke with fondness of their former students.
After a decade at JHS 13, Jeanie transferred to the since-closed William Howard Taft HS in the Bronx. Jeanie and her late husband, Bernard Kurtin, who taught at Taft and at the Bronx HS of Science, were strong unionists. Both are buried in the UFT Pinegrove section of Rose Hills Memorial Park in Putnam Valley, N.Y.
Jeanie was skilled in plein air (landscape) painting and portraiture, and her work was displayed in many venues, Feldberg said. She was a member of the Mamaroneck Artists Guild (MAG). Jeanie continued to teach in retirement, doing art workshops for more than 15 years every January and July at LIRIC, the Learning in Retirement program at Iona College. “I can still see her trundling into LIRIC with a shopping cart of art supplies and a ‘model,’ usually flowers in a vase, for the still life she wanted people to draw,” said Linda Whetzel, the curriculum chair. “In addition to being a talented artist herself, she was a lovely soft-spoken woman very much appreciated by the LIRIC students she taught over the years.” Suzanne Page, the director of LIRIC, said Jeanie “was much loved and will be much missed.”
Jeanie also was a talented singer, with a phenomenal memory for lyrics, and sang in a chorus. She loved literature, travel and taking long walks, and she belonged to the Westchester Community for Humanist Judaism.
Spending time with her children and grandchildren was Jeanie’s greatest pleasure.
She is survived by her stepdaughter, Sabrina Drayton; her stepson Owen Kurtin and his wife, Isabelle Housseau; her grandsons, Jean-Michael Mathurin and his wife Samantha, and Noah Drayton; her granddaughter Dora Housseau-Kurtin; her great-grandchildren, Payton Elisabeth Rogers, Bernard Jerome Mathurin and Jason Samuel Mathurin; and several nephews and their families.
Condolences may be sent to:
Sabrina Drayton
773 Country Place Drive
Tobyhanna, PA 18466
Donations in Jeanie’s name may be made to the
Wave Hill Public Garden & Cultural Center
4900 Independence Ave.
Bronx, NY 10471.
An amazing woman. She will be missed by all that knew her. Rest in peace Jeanie.
I met Jeanie through her good friend, Peter Geldrich and his family. Being a former art teacher myself made it easy for us to connect. In the few times we shared an occasion her warmth and kindness were always apparent.