Roseann Jane Cohen

Roseann Pechter Cohen, age 94, of York and Lancaster, Pa., died in Lancaster on March 23, 2023. She was born in 1928 in Jersey Shore, Pa., to Samuel and Dora Lurie Pechter. Samuel , the son of Hiram and Esther Pechter of Vienna, Austria, started a department store clothing business in Jersey Shore, that Roseann remained proud of her entire life. She was the youngest of four children, but tragically lost both her mother and father when she still a child.

Roseann moved from Jersey Shore to Harrisburg to live with her older sisters, Ruth Pechter Butler and Frances Pechter Grosky, who raised her to adulthood, along with her brother Fred Pechter.

Roseann graduated from William Penn High School in Harrisburg, Pa. After high school she went to work for the Girl Scouts of America , Harrisburg, Pa. in the secretarial pool. There she befriended another young secretary, Lois Krauss (Forner), where they met at the company snack bar. They became fast friends (and remained so until Lois’s death in 2021). Lois set Roseann up on a blind date with a young man on a weekend leave from the Navy, Gene Cohen of York. Roseann and Gene were a perfect match and married in 1952 . They began their lives together in York, where they remained and lived for 50 years, raising three children, Shelley, Deborah and Jeffrey. Gene passed away in 2002. Roseann remained in York until moving to Providence Place Assisted Living in Lancaster in 2021.

Roseann’s children and grandchildren were the joy of her life. While raising three children, she still managed to work part-time at East York school as a cafeteria aide, at Keira’s Corner collectibles in East York, as a Sunday School teacher at Temple Beth Israel in York, and for many years in jewelry sales at Adams Jewelers, also of East York. Roseann was an avid reader of everything from novels to newspapers and taught her children the importance of reading, knowledge and education. She taught by example in everything she did. She loved to shop and in her later years, attend local events and eat lunch out on Saturdays with her daughter Shelley.

Roseann was predeceased by her husband of 50 years, Gene L. Cohen, her sisters Ruth Butler, Frances Grosky and brother Fred Pechter. She is survived by her daughter Shelley Cohen Hershey of Lancaster, Pa., and her husband Jerome Hershey; Deborah Spingarn and her husband Jeremy Spingarn of Norwood, Ma. and Jeffrey Cohen and his wife Sarah of Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is also survived by her nephew Ronald Butler and his wife Beth, of Harrisburg, Pa., six grandchildren: Kaehla Hershey and her fiancé Salomon Silva of Lancaster; Leah Hershey of Washington, D.C.; Hannah Spingarn of Newton, Ma.; Caroline Spingarn of Norwood, Ma; Adira Cohen of Cincinnati, Ohio; and Ethan Cohen of New Haven, Ct. Also survived by one great-grandchild, Salomon Maxwell Silva of Lancaster. She is survived by many nieces and nephews from Florida to California, and a second cousin in Petah Tikvah, Israel, Frida Hirt Raz.

Graveside services in York, Pa. will be private. Instead of flowers, the family appreciates expressions of condolences made to Temple Shaarai Shomayim , c/o The Rabbi’s Fund, 75 E. James St., Lancaster, Pa. 17602.