Jean Rice

1946 - 2006

Jean Rice, a pioneering business woman and educator whose career spanned the worlds of high-tech, early childhood education and social service, died at her home in Forestdale, MA, Saturday, Aug. 19, 2006) after a year-long struggle with cancer. She was 60. A woman of enormous energy and good cheer, Ms. Rice was the president of The Bridgeview School of Sagamore, a Montessori school serving 120 children that she co-founded in 1999. She spent most of her earlier career in the high-tech world around Boston and was widely involved in volunteer work on adoption services and education, mental health services, hospice, AIDS care and in women’s groups, as well as being a foster parent. A native of Tomah, WI, Ms. Rice came to Boston in the late 1960s and, after working in a couple of secretarial positions, decided to seek a business degree. In 1974 she became one of the first two women to earn an M.B.A. from Northeastern University. She was also a talented artist and in later years studied art therapy at the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences at Lesley College. She earned her undergraduate degree at Dominican College in Racine, WI, and also did graduate studies at Seton Hall University. After earning her M.B.A., Ms. Rice joined Polaroid Corp. in Waltham, where she held a number of managerial positions and became the first woman to supervise a production line at the company. She later became Manufacturing Manager for Dynamics Research Corp. in Wilmington; Director of the Aviation Products Division of Pacer Systems in Burlington; and Vice President of Manufacturing and Vice President of Engineering at Kurzweil Music Systems in Waltham. After retiring from Kurzweil, she moved to Cape Cod with her husband, Palmer D. True, ultimately settling in Forestdale with their twin sons.

Throughout her life Ms. Rice was known to her friends and the many people she helped as a cheerful and endlessly giving person. In addition to serving on the boards of trustees of The Adoption Center in Cambridge and the Women’s Technical Institute in Boston, she spent years as a foster parent and providing care to a friend dying of AIDS. At the Women’s Technical Institute she taught a course called “Translations” to women considering a career shift from social service to the business world, and at Northeastern University night school she taught courses on how women could translate their skills, experiences and abilities into the language of business. In addition to her husband, Palmer True, with whom she spent almost 30 wonderful years, she is survived by her sons Nathaniel J. and Noah J. True of Forestdale; a sister, Elizabeth Colman of Sandwich; stepchildren Ellen (True) DiCerbo of Holden, MA, Bruce D. True of Newburyport and Brian P. True of Swartz Creek, MI; and foster daughter Elizabeth Katehis of Mashpee. Calling hours and funeral were held at the Nickerson-Bourne Funeral Home, 154 Route 6A in Sandwich, MA. Calling hours were on Thursday, Aug. 24, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Her funeral was held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 25, at the funeral home, followed by interment in the Sandwich Town Cemetery on Route 130. A celebration of her life will take place at Oak Crest Cove Resort, Quaker Meetinghouse Road, Sandwich, MA, on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2006.