Mrs. J. Baker Tenney (Janet W. Baker) of Audubon, PA, formerly of Wayne, PA, died on March 19, 2015.

 

Born in Hartford, CT, on October 20, 1928, Janet was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Gladden Whetstone Baker (Marion Williams). She graduated from Oxford School, now known as Kingswood Oxford School, in 1946, having attended since kindergarten. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1950 from Connecticut College, of which her mother was part of the first graduating class. She married Charles Iredell Tenney in 1951, and moved to Wayne, after which she was awarded a graduate fellowship to Bryn Mawr College, which included serving as an assistant teacher at Phebe Anna Thorne Nursery School for two years. She and Mr. Tenney divorced in 1972.

 

Janet was employed for many years in education, working as teacher, head teacher, and ultimately, director of St. Martin’s Church weekday nursery school in Radnor, PA, which she helped organize in 1960; as founding director of Rosemont College’s Child Care Center from 1975-1982; and as head teacher and director of the Heritage School in Wayne until her retirement in 1985. Additionally, she was previously a case worker for the State of Connecticut and the American Red Cross in Philadelphia; teacher and superintendent/director of St. Martin’s Church Sunday School; and head teacher/counselor and director of St. Martin’s Church Community Day Camp, which she assisted in organizing in 1970.

 

She was also active in volunteer and club activities, serving as Connecticut College class nominating chairman; director and president of the Connecticut College Club of Philadelphia; and as a member of the Junior League of Philadelphia, as well as its Board of Managers and Garden Club. She was also a part of multiple historical heritage societies, including the Pennsylvania Society of New England Women; the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and the Jeptha Abbott chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

 

Janet is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. David Stafford Miller III (Eleanor Tenney) of Vienna, VA, and her daughter, Elizabeth Iredell Tenney of Collegeville, PA; her brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Shepard Williams Baker of West Hartford, CT; two grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. She was predeceased by her former husband, Mr. Tenney, and her son, John Baker Tenney of Clemson, SC. Interment was at Fairview Cemetery in West Hartford on March 28, 2015, with a memorial service held on April 18, 2015, at St. Martin’s Church.