Sarah Helen Rosenberg

Sarah Rosenberg

RIP Sarah Helen Rosenberg, the daughter of late Judge Benjamin and Rachel Greenspan, passed away peacefully in her sleep on December 31st, 2012. She was predeceased by her husband Bernard in 1996. At the time of his death they had been married for 47 years. She is survived by her children, Deena, Daniel and Rebecca, her son-in-law Ernie and her grandson Ben. Sarah grew up in New York City and received her Bachelors Degree in Political Sciences from Brooklyn College and her Masters Degree in Psychology from the New School for Social Research, where she studied with Ernst Kris, a colleague of Sigmund Freud's. Her deep belief in social justice infused her professional life. Through the humane Berkshire Farm for Boys After Care Division, she counseled juvenile delinquents giving them a sense of personal responsibility. She entrusted them to do odd jobs around her home and to watch her children, giving them alternatives to street life. She also worked for the Jewish Guild for the Blind and later for her brother, Bud Greenspan, the award winning sports filmmaker. Sarah settled in her cherished Wellfleet, Ma in 1972, a town she had been visiting summers since the 1950s, a city girl instantly drawn to the extraordinary beauty and diverse year-around population of Wellfleet's seaside fishing village.

Sarah touched many lives on Cape Cod through her professional role as one of the first Title I School Psychologists working in the lower Cape Cod Nauset and Provincetown/Truro School Districts. With her late husband Bernard, Sarah was very active in the Wellfleet community. She enrolled her children, Deena, Daniel and Rebecca, in Wellfleet Recreation Programs. Through her advocacy and support Rebecca became the first girl to play Little League baseball in 1974. Rebecca is now the Wellfleet Recreation Director and carries on her mother's legacy for gender equity and social justice.

Sarah had a lovely singing voice and could often be heard singing Broadway Tunes and Big Band Standards. Many times she accompanied her musicologist daughter Deena, whose father-in-law Yip Harburg composed the lyrics to The Wizard of Oz. An avid sports fan Sarah particularly enjoyed watching tennis and commiserating with her son Daniel--a professor of health and sports sciences--about his beloved Yankees. Sarah and the family accompanied her husband, a Sociology professor on many teaching sabbaticals to Buenos Aires, Henley on Themes, Great Britain, Binghamton, NY, Waltham, Ma and Chicago Illinois.

Sarah's proudest accomplishment was raising her three children, Deena, Daniel and Rebecca, to be loving caring productive adults. She played a supportive role in all their endeavors throughout her entire life.

A musical celebration of Sarah's life will be held this month in NYC and another in Wellfleet in June. In lieu of flowers the family is requesting donations be made in the name of Sarah Rosenberg to: Wellfleet Recreation Department, 300 Main Street, Wellfleet MA 02667.

Mom, you were 'someone who watched over us.' 'We'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places.'