Ann Lenore Schneider passed away peacefully on June 2nd after a three-year battle with ovarian cancer.
Ann Lenore Schneider. Credit: Jowdy Kane Funeral Home https://www.jowdykanefuneralhome.com/obituary/Lenore-Schneider
Lenore was born on March 11, 1948 to the late Walter H. and Ann B. Schneider. Dr. Schneider earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Duke University, and her doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University: all degrees were in history. Lenore’s natural curiosity, coupled with her family’s value of education fostered her desire to teach and travel.
Over the course of her fifty-three-year career, she taught middle school, high school, and college students. Wherever she taught, she looked forward to each day, urging students to share her fascination with history, her earnest desire to help them learn to think deeply and write effectively, and delighting in offering numerous activities to engage them in applying their learning. Their simulations of events such as the Trial of the French Revolution brought lighthearted but meaningful opportunities for students to be engaged in their learning. It was her deep desire to bring out the best in her students, no matter the level of their skill, and to help the thousands she taught to thrive.
She adored her students. Although Lenore began teaching in the middle school in New Canaan, after she earned her doctorate, she taught at Wheaton College (near Chicago) for a one-year term, replacing a professor who was on sabbatical. She found it rewarding, and was offered several other college opportunities, but she found her niche at New Canaan High School.
Eventually she specialized in Advanced Placement European History and Advanced Placement World History. The College Board invited Lenore to be one of three teachers nationwide, as well as three professors, to be on the AP European History Test Development Committee. She also helped to score the essays of the national AP exams for both history courses, served on a College Board Advisory Board, and trained AP teachers in fifteen states, and overseas in countries as varied as China, Japan, Switzerland, Colombia, and Slovakia. She contributed to several textbooks, published articles in history journals and gave numerous presentations, including at national conferences. Dr. Schneider also mentored teachers in the New Canaan School District. She contributed to the development of the Connecticut State Certification Programs, BEST and TEAM, and over the course of her career helped New Canaan district mentors to guide hundreds of beginning teachers to success. She helped to develop and served in the New Canaan High School Writing Center and the Independent Study program. She also served in several administrative positions.
After traveling with her family in Europe when she was a child, Lenore decided to explore the world. She felt fortunate to be awarded several grants to travel, including studies at Princeton, Oxford, Yale, a special award to travel in East Africa, and another to Germany. She won two Fulbright awards, one to China and the other tothe Netherlands. The East Africans and Chinese were fascinated with her height, blond hair, and blue eyes. She visited China in 1986, at the cusp of their transformation from Communist economics to capitalism, and she observed that the Fulbright group was always accompanied by “security guards.” She encountered young Chinese women reading magazines and trying lipstick for the first time. Return visits to China in the mid-2000s certainly revealed a startling modernization!!! She extended her trip to the Netherlands in 1990 into newly opened East Germany and Eastern Europe, after the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989. She noted how quickly the newly freed people in Prague and Budapest tore down statues of Communist “heroes” and changed the names of many streets…although they hadn’t had time to change the maps and did not speak English yet! In total she visited sixty countries, and with a wry smile, she admitted getting lost in fifty-seven of them. Such adventures enabled her to combine her love of history, art history, music, literature, and each country’s culture, always considering how she could incorporate her new knowledge into her teaching.
In addition to her professional teaching career and her extensive travels, Lenore also enjoyed culture, including numerous trips to New York City to see plays, theatre, opera, and visit museums, even unusual ones such as The Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side.
Another passion was her interest in sports, including tennis, racquetball, paddle tennis, squash, basketball, and pickleball.
Lenore was a strong woman of faith, whose belief in God was the anchor of her life from a young age. Regardless of the church she attended, Lenore actively pursued a personal connection to God, not only through attending Bible studies, but also leading Bible studies and small groups. She sought numerous ways to serve as well. One way she demonstrated her faith was to join a group from Women of Vision to travel to Rwanda to support microfinance projects for the local women. The group was also able to visit their sponsored children, which was a highlight of the trip. Lenore lived her life radiating the Lord’s love to everyone around her through her gifts of hospitality, listening, and caring for others with grace and compassion.
She will be sorely missed by her friends, family, colleagues, and students as well as those she was not even aware she touched with her kindness and goodness. During her diagnosis and treatment, Lenore responded to each new challenge with courage and faith. The medical team and staff at the Whittingham Cancer Center were exceptional, not only in their skills, but in their compassion and patience. They contributed to Lenore’s peace and joy in the midst of her uncertain path. One way she found to express her appreciation was to contribute to the special Ovarian Cancer Research Project at Norwalk Hospital. She was also immensely grateful for her friends and family members who supported her through this journey with prayers, phone calls, cards, flowers, rides, food, and visits. Her faithful friend Roger Mitchell provided support and comfort throughout her journey in spite of his own disabilities.
Lenore is survived by her brothers Barry Schneider (Tracy), of Houston, Texas, and Richard Schneider (Barbara) of Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina. She was predeceased by her sister Jane Schneider who passed away on December 22, 2023. She loved her nieces Elizabeth (Geoffrey) Sahs, Mary Carlin Schneider, Ann Schneider, Allison Bogesse (AJ), Katy Broadwater, her nephew Steven Broadwater (Lauren) and her great nieces and nephews.
Family and friends will be received on Saturday, July 12, 2025 from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Kane Funeral Home; 25 Catoonah Street, Ridgefield. A Celebration of Life Service will take place on Sunday, July 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM at Jesse Lee Memorial United Methodist Church; 207 Main Street, Ridgefield. A reception in the church fellowship hall will follow the service. Interment will take place privately.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to: Norwalk Hospital Foundation Ovarian Cancer Research – Nuvance Health Foundation, P.O. Box 22539, New York, NY 10087-2539, or online at https://www.nuvancehealth.org/giving/support-your-community-hospital
[This obituary appeared on the Jowdy Kane Funeral Home website.]
Dr. Schneider was the best teacher I ever had at NCPS (hands down, zero competition)—she even outshined most of my professors in college. With her signature velvety-smooth voice & enthusiasm to share her vast knowledge, Dr.Schneider shaped the minds of countless history & english students (& even converted some of the most unwilling of pupils). I was fortunate to take European History, AP European History & English with Dr. S, who made every lesson come alive & fueled my academic curiosity. No teacher ever got through to me like Dr. S—she had a way of expecting more from me, intellectually, than I had ever thought was possible…and for that, I never wanted to let her down & strove to excel. Dr. Schneider will always be remembered (with love & appreciation) as my favorite teacher of all time. My sincere condolences to the family.
I could not agree with this sentiment more. I was fortunate enough to take AP European History with Dr. Schneider at NCHS. She was the type of teacher you want your child to have; she challenged me, but she also pushed me to challenge myself. She invested in me as a student and a person. And because of that, I never wanted to disappoint her. The lessons she taught me extend beyond European History. I am so sorry to hear of her passing and extend my heartfelt condolences to her family.
Lenore, our cottage tenant in the 1980s, was quiet and unassuming, with a dogged curiosity and appreciation of the world around her, loving to teach and to travel. We admired her curiosity and her kindness. I am awed by her accomplishments.
Please note that a NCSF scholarship has been set up in her memory.
The very best of teachers at New Canaan HS. Prayers from the Jandovitz family! RIP.