Who was Annemarie Roeper?

Original Publication Date: August 2018

This biography comes from the calendar created to honor Annemarie in a year-long celebration of the centenary of her birth held during the 2018-19 school year.

Memorial for Annemarie Roeper

A celebration of her life at The Roeper School

On August 25, 2012, the Roeper community gathered to celebrate the life of Annemarie Roeper on the Bloomfield Hills campus of the school she co-founded with her husband, George Roeper. Alumni, faculty and staff both former and present, parents and students honored her long life of accomplishments with music, poignant memories, and a play celebrating her insights and her uncanny likeness to Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. After the service and a reception, many gathered in the Children’s Library for Story Time, a chance for anyone to share a memory or a story. It was truly an end of an era to lose Annemarie, who had remained active with the school under the very end of her life. Her son, Peter Roeper, shared a story that exemplified this endlessly curious and engaged woman. Only days from her passing on May 11, she was dozing while Peter sat by her bedside.  She opened her eyes and asked, “Which do you think is more important, questions or answers?” A refugee from the Nazi regime, forced to make a new life in a new language in a new country, Annemarie never lost her sense of inquiry, caring, or forward momentum. 

Annemarie Roeper Memorial Service, August 25, 2012

Stories Shared about Annemarie Roeper, August 25, 2012

Commemorative Magazine for Annemarie Roeper’s Memorial

Centenary Celebration of Annemarie Roeper

Annemarie Roeper was born in Vienna on August 27, 1918, and passed away on May 11, 2012, in Oakland, California. During the 2018-19 school year, Roeper celebrated the centenary of her birth.  There was a commemorative calendar featuring images and quotations from her life; a panel discussion by those who had worked with her discussing the lessons they learned from Annemarie, and a visit from young-adult writer Louise Borden, whose book about the flight from the Nazis of Margret and HA Rey, the authors of the Curious George books,  paralleled George and Annemarie’s journey in many ways. Indeed the two couples became friends in this country. During the centenary year, the school installed a stone outside Hill House with a plaque to complement the stone installed for George Roeper, and created a garden called The Recess on the Bloomfield Hills campus to honor all the adults who have been engaged with children as part of this educational community.

Here you can find the images and quotations from the commemorative calendar, as well as an article about the panel discussion.

 

 

Official Biography

Original Publication Date: May 12, 2012