Obituary for Jean Adele Oberg
JEAN OBERG – Jean Adele Grams Oberg, of Goshen, passed away on April 7 at the age of 91. A life-long New York State resident--born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, resident in Westchester County and later in the Buffalo and Syracuse areas, before retiring to Goshen in 2002. Eldest child of Edward and Marguerite Haight Grams, she was educated in the NYC public schools. She graduated (Class of 1943) with a B.S. in Education from Hunter College CCNY. During her college years, Jean was member of Alpha Gamma Delta (Alpha Theta chapter), and maintained contacts with fraternity sisters throughout her life.
Jean met John Lincoln Oberg of Brooklyn at a Pocono Mountains summer camp dance in 1938, maintaining a cross-town and ultimately overseas romance while he served as a junior officer in the Merchant Marine. They married in 1944. A homemaker and community volunteer for almost 20 years, she and her husband raised three children. In the 1960s, she earned her M.S. in Education at Buffalo State University and began part-time work as a substitute teacher in local public schools, focusing on students with disabilities. After moving to the Syracuse area, she worked ten years as an assistant registrar with Onondaga Community College, retiring at 72.
Following her husband’s death in 1982, Jean developed her skills as a still life painter, specializing in water color, selling a respectable number of works, winning multiple local awards, and exhibiting at the NY State Fair and Syracuse Municipal Building, among other venues. She was an active bridge player until her final illness.
Over 70 active years, Jean exemplified her fraternity’s credo “live with purpose” in her extensive community service work. Early in her marriage, she distributed March of Dimes collection canisters and served in the women’s auxiliary of the Hawthorne (NY) Volunteer Fire Department. As her children grew, she served with Scouting and other enrichment programs for them and their classmates, co-chairing with husband John the high school American Field Service chapter and hosting two foreign exchange students. With the children grown, she and John co-chaired the local Welcome Wagon and delivered food to shut-ins for Meals on Wheels. A resident of the Glen Arden Continuing Care Community since 2002, Jean maintained her service commitment, among other initiatives chairing the residents’ Activities Committee, reading news articles to the blind, and organizing painting, Wii bowling, outing, and other educational and recreational activities for her peers.
She is survived by three children (James Edward Oberg, Keith Lincoln Oberg, and Marjorie Elizabeth Oberg Plevel), five grandchildren (Gregory Oberg, Kathryn Oberg, John Oberg, Alexander Oberg, and John Plevel), and three great-grandchildren, and by younger sister Marjorie Grams Smith.
Burial will be at The Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn NY. A memorial service will take place at the Glen Arden Continuing Care Community, 214 Harriman Dr, Goshen NY 10924, on Thursday, April 11 at 3:15 pm.
Condolences may be left at www.applebee-mcphillips.com
In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to one of many service organizations she supported or patronized, including Hospice of Orange & Sullivan Counties (www.hospiceoforange.com), Compassion and Choices of New York (www.compassionandchoicesofny.org/), or the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation (http://www.alphagammadeltafoundation.org).
Burial will be at The Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn NY. A memorial service will take place at the Glen Arden Continuing Care Community, 214 Harriman Dr, Goshen NY 10924, on Thursday, April 11 at 3:15 pm.
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Jean met John Lincoln Oberg of Brooklyn at a Pocono Mountains summer camp dance in 1938, maintaining a cross-town and ultimately overseas romance while he served as a junior officer in the Merchant Marine. They married in 1944. A homemaker and community volunteer for almost 20 years, she and her husband raised three children. In the 1960s, she earned her M.S. in Education at Buffalo State University and began part-time work as a substitute teacher in local public schools, focusing on students with disabilities. After moving to the Syracuse area, she worked ten years as an assistant registrar with Onondaga Community College, retiring at 72.
Following her husband’s death in 1982, Jean developed her skills as a still life painter, specializing in water color, selling a respectable number of works, winning multiple local awards, and exhibiting at the NY State Fair and Syracuse Municipal Building, among other venues. She was an active bridge player until her final illness.
Over 70 active years, Jean exemplified her fraternity’s credo “live with purpose” in her extensive community service work. Early in her marriage, she distributed March of Dimes collection canisters and served in the women’s auxiliary of the Hawthorne (NY) Volunteer Fire Department. As her children grew, she served with Scouting and other enrichment programs for them and their classmates, co-chairing with husband John the high school American Field Service chapter and hosting two foreign exchange students. With the children grown, she and John co-chaired the local Welcome Wagon and delivered food to shut-ins for Meals on Wheels. A resident of the Glen Arden Continuing Care Community since 2002, Jean maintained her service commitment, among other initiatives chairing the residents’ Activities Committee, reading news articles to the blind, and organizing painting, Wii bowling, outing, and other educational and recreational activities for her peers.
She is survived by three children (James Edward Oberg, Keith Lincoln Oberg, and Marjorie Elizabeth Oberg Plevel), five grandchildren (Gregory Oberg, Kathryn Oberg, John Oberg, Alexander Oberg, and John Plevel), and three great-grandchildren, and by younger sister Marjorie Grams Smith.
Burial will be at The Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn NY. A memorial service will take place at the Glen Arden Continuing Care Community, 214 Harriman Dr, Goshen NY 10924, on Thursday, April 11 at 3:15 pm.
Condolences may be left at www.applebee-mcphillips.com
In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to one of many service organizations she supported or patronized, including Hospice of Orange & Sullivan Counties (www.hospiceoforange.com), Compassion and Choices of New York (www.compassionandchoicesofny.org/), or the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation (http://www.alphagammadeltafoundation.org).
Burial will be at The Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn NY. A memorial service will take place at the Glen Arden Continuing Care Community, 214 Harriman Dr, Goshen NY 10924, on Thursday, April 11 at 3:15 pm.
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