Ann Siegel Swern, 93, former Philadelphia teacher

Ann Siegel Swern, 93, a former Philadelphia public school teacher, died of a cerebrovascular accident Wednesday, March 16, at her home in Elkins Park.

A daughter, Harriet Solomon, said that Mrs. Swern was born in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., and earned her bachelor's degree in education at Temple University in 1959, when she was 41.

She then taught mathematics and reading, mostly at what is now Roosevelt Middle School in East Germantown, until retiring in 1969.

"She always had wanted to be a teacher," Solomon said, "and just put her education on hold."

After she married in 1938, Mrs. Swern lived in Arlington, Va., and worked as a bookkeeper while her husband, Daniel, studied for his doctorate in chemistry at the University of Maryland.

The couple moved to Philadelphia in 1940, Solomon said, where she raised their children and her husband worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture office in Wyndmoor.

After her husband of 44 years died in 1982, Solomon said, Mrs. Swern moved to Elkins Park in 1984, where in retirement she was a docent at the Temple Judea Museum at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel.

Beginning in 1968, Mrs. Swern was also a volunteer at the Philadelphia Geriatric Center for more than 20 years.

Besides her daughter Harriet, Mrs. Swern is survived by a daughter, Dorothy Federman; a sister; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial was set for 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 22, at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Old York Road at Township Line Road, Elkins Park.