Marjorie Rice Daltry Rosenbaum

Marjorie Suzanne Rice Daltry Rosenbaum of Middletown, CT passed away early Sunday morning, October 20, 2013 in Delta, Colorado after a short illness. She was born May 10, 1921 in Hartford, CT and was the daughter of Louis Haskell Rice and Guilielma Murray Rice, and the sister of Charles Murray Rice. She was a resident of Connecticut her entire life, growing up and living in West Hartford before locating to the Middletown area in the late 1950s. Marjorie was a graduate of Hall High School and Radcliffe College of Cambridge, MA in 1943, as well as one of the original graduates in Wesleyan University's Graduate Liberal Studies Program in 1955. She was a woman of cultured substance, demonstrative presence, and memorable performance. She was an English teacher in the West Hartford and Haddam schools and taught in Wesleyan's GLSP. In 1967 she was the founder and for many years thereafter the principal strength of CAUSE (Community & University Services for Education), a program to facilitate cooperative projects between Wesleyan and the Middletown community. Later she was chief administrator of Wesleyan's Educational Studies Program from 1973 to 1985, usually with her German Shepherd dog in follow. Always with a song, she enriched thousands of students and left a large imprint on the Connecticut educational community. Beyond her educational pursuits and accomplishments, her life passion was song and stage. She excelled as a child singer with her brother Charles on a WDRC weekly radio show. Her singing highlights, with perfect pitch, included as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Julliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center in NYC. On stage, she thrived in the spotlight. In musical theatre she performed throughout New England with summer stage in Rockport, MA and the Berkshires, the Simsbury Light Opera Company, and traveling companies from Wesleyan. She made the cast for Kiss Me Kate on Broadway. Marjorie was predeceased by her husband Joseph S. Daltry, Wesleyan University's first Professor of Music and founder of its Music Department; she is survived by her husband Robert A. Rosenbaum, Wesleyan University Professor of Sciences and Mathematics Emeritus. Her dear brother Charles of Simsbury, CT, to whom she was connected in spirit and song, predeceased her by five months. She is survived by: her nephews of Simsbury, Charles Jr., Christopher, Stephen, Timothy, and Hugh Rice; her stepdaughter Faith Daltry Compo of Rhinebeck, NY; and her stepsons Robert, Joseph and David Rosenbaum of Delta, Colorado.
Christian rites of funeral burial were performed on Monday, October 28, 2013 at Fairview Cemetery in West Hartford, CT, where she rests along with her parents and aunt. A memorial service at Wesleyan University will be planned for Spring, 2014. Donations in lieu of flowers could be made to the Middlesex County Community Foundation, 211 South Main Street, Middletown, CT 06457. Messages of condolence may be sent to the family at
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