Lancaster New Era (PA) - May 8, 2003
Deceased Name: Katherine M. Rockwell, educator
Katherine M. Rockwell, 93, of Luther Acres Manor, 200 St. Luke Dr., Lititz, died there Tuesday morning after a long illness.
A Huntingdon resident for more than 50 years, she moved to Brethren Village in 1985 and to Luther Acres Manor in 2001.
An educator and chemistry teacher, she taught chemistry classes to home economics students and supervised chemistry labs at Juniata College in Huntingdon. She also was a longtime instructor in Juniata's Freshman English Conference Program.
She had been a member of the University of Delaware chemistry faculty for one year.
After retiring, Mrs. Rockwell volunteered in Juniata College's library, where her interest in the college's rare-book collection led to the first intensive effort to conserve, organize, catalog and display this historic resource.
Mrs. Rockwell graduated magna cum laude in 1929 from Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass., where she belonged to Phi Beta Kappa. She continued her studies in organic chemistry at Yale University, where she was awarded the Sterling Prize for distinguished graduate work. She earned her doctorate in 1932 from Yale.
She played cello in the Juniata College orchestra, hosted numerous college events and participated in various other community activities.
Active on school boards in the Huntingdon area, she first served on the township board for local one-room schools; then the area joint school board, under which small local school districts were consolidated; and eventually as a member of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education.
Mrs. Rockwell was a Cub Scout den mother.
She was a member of Salem United Church of Christ of Rohrerstown and Abbey Reformed Church, Huntingdon, where she served as treasurer and sang in the choir.
She was a member of American Association of University Women, League of Women Voters and Friends of the Juniata College Library.
An avid reader, she also enjoyed traveling throughout the United States and playing cards, especially bridge. She was an accomplished knitter and enjoyed needlepoint, sewing and crocheting.
Born in Hackensack, N.J., she was the daughter of the late James D. and Ida May Stetler Haring.
Her husband, Dr. Donald M. Rockwell, died in 1983.
Surviving are two daughters, Marian Haring Rockwell of Ambler and Susan Rockwell, wife of James K. Coen Jr. of Colorado Springs, Colo.; two sons, Kenneth H., husband of Mildred Mandeville Rockwell of Huntingdon, and James A., husband of Darla Rosensteel Rockwell of Lititz; eight grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.
Lancaster New Era (PA)
Date: May 8, 2003
Page: B-3