Ramona Foran

Ramona Foran died peacefully in Santa Barbara on September 23, 2021, which would have been her husband’s 97th birthday.

Born Ramona Joan McAuliffe on November 29, 1927 in Omaha, Nebraska, she met the love of her life, Jack Foran, while working in Chicago.  They married on May 22, 1954 and moved to the East Coast.

She was the best mom in the world to her two children, John and Mary Jane, and a legendary teacher to countless other children.

Ramona taught in the elementary schools of Holyoke and Boston, Massachusetts, between 1960 and 1969.  Then the family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, where she taught seventh and eighth graders at St. Aloysius School between 1970 and 1995. After trying to retire, she became assistant kindergarten teacher until 2005. The kids adored her.

She took wonderful care of Jack when his health started to decline in the 1990s and they moved together to Santa Barbara, California in December 2005.  When Jack died in April 2007, she delighted in a wide circle of dear new friends with whom she played bridge and talked for endless hours, in the company of Galaxy, the black cat she doted on.  She would more than occasionally beat Mary Jane and John in the many word games they played over the years.

Her creativity shined through in the bulletin boards that graced her classrooms and the hand-made greeting cards that have remained precious possessions of friends and family for many years.

She was a kind, loving, vital friend and loving mother and grandmother well into her 90s.  She is survived by her children, her grandchildren Amal and Cerina Bhavnani, her son-in-law Bruce Bortin, her son’s former partner, Kum-Kum Bhavnani, her beloved nieces and nephews, and countless friends and former students all over the United States and beyond, for whom her memory will forever be a blessing.