Their Light Lives On The following are death notices received from friends and family from February 2020 to March 2021. To report a death notice, email communications@friendsseminary.org.
Richard Cooley ’42
New York City on January 7, 1929 and
Written by Karen Boysen,
grew up in Greenwich Village. After
Richard’s daughter
Friends she attended Radcliffe where
Richard Strother Cooley ’42, passed on
she graduated with a BA in History.
Dec. 4, 2020 at the age of 96. Prior to Friends, “Dick” had attended a private school in Cleveland and one in NYC. His educational experiences were less than fulfilling, and he truly did not enjoy school. He often told his family that from his first day at Friends, everything changed. He engaged and thrived, both academically and socially, and
She then moved back to New York where she worked as an editor, studied sculpture at the Art Students League, and married Karl Kroeber, who became an English professor at the University of Wisconsin and at Columbia University. Her commitment to sculpture was reignited in 1967 on a visit to Greece, and from then on she carved
Jean Taylor Kroeber due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her wit and generosity of spirit will be
for the rest of his life he characterized those years as some of the best in his life. He made lifelong friendships with fellow classmates Richard Scully, Jack Milici and Rene Mastrovito. The four got together annually, and their spouses and children became close through the decades that followed. His dear friend Marion Cleveland Cohen ’43 remained a lifelong friend as well and was godmother to Dick’s son. After serving as a radio operator in WWII, Dick went on to receive his BA from Washington & Lee University and his Masters in Education from Rutgers. He was head of the math departments at both Far Hills Country Day School (Far Hills, NJ) and The Buckley School
in stone (mainly marble) and wood.
(NYC), before retiring in 1990.
Friends yearbook, which foresaw “Jean
daughter Cynthia Ann Keely both were
‘Hot Fingers’ Taylor, of the Spike Jones
born in Sewickley, Penn. After moving
band, clutching the ‘sweet’ washboard
to Oklahoma, Barbara started a
with which she has risen to fame.”
wholesale and retail giftware company
Jean Taylor Kroeber ’47 Written by her son, Arthur Kroeber
Her figurative style was influenced by Greek and Romanesque carvings and the strong figures of Aristide Maillol and William Zorach. She worked without drawings or maquettes and aimed for a concentrated expression of inner life. Jean’s work was displayed at many galleries in New York and Vermont, and she was a longtime member and president of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club in New York City. She served faithfully for many years as the Class of 1947 Secretary and was a donor to many progressive causes. She did not quite fulfill the prophecy of her
badly missed. Her husband Karl died in 2009; she is survived by children Paul Kroeber, Arthur Kroeber and Katharine Kroeber Wiley, and four grandchildren.
Barbara Franzman Keely ’50 Barbara Anne Franzman Keely was born on July 2, 1932. Raised in Brooklyn, Atherton and Lafayette, California, she finally moved to Manhattan where she graduated from Friends Seminary in 1950. She met her husband, Edmund Mark Keely III while working for Cities Service in New York City. They moved to Pittsburgh and began their family. Their son Edmund Mark Keely IV and
She kept a keen interest in music as
called “Caravan East” in 1977. According
Jean Taylor Kroeber ’47, sculptor, died
an amateur pianist (and a player of
to her family, Barbara loved to read and
on Sept. 7, 2020, while residing at
a clavichord she built herself), and a
continued to do so throughout her life.
her summer home in Hampton, NY
habituée of Carnegie Hall, where her
Her collection of books numbered
where she had spent several months
determined attendance was cut short
in the thousands. She passed on
each year since 1975. Jean was born in
only by the cancelation of concerts
September 1, 2020.
44 Summer 2021 | Meetinghouse
