Our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Barbara Rogers Jolovitz who passed away on March 30, 2023 at the age of 87.
Barbara was born on May 11, 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the youngest of three daughters of Gertrude and Wilfred Sohn. Barbara was raised in Portland, graduated Deering High School, and attended Westbrook Junior College in Portland. She moved to Boston where she met Eric Rogers of Provincetown, Massachusetts. They married in 1956 and raised two children, Karl Rogers and Deborah Barlock.
Barbara was a very artistic woman who over the years was involved with creative endeavors ranging from making batik fabrics to Japanese flower-arranging to professional stencil art. She studied painting with William Manning and was a devoted follower of Julia Child. Eventually, she went on to run a gourmet catering service for many years in the Portland area.
Barbara met her second husband, Lester Jolovitz, at one of her catering events. They enjoyed many years together traveling, supporting the arts and civic organizations in the Waterville area, and spending winters at their 2nd home in Naples, Florida. More recently, she was inspired to write several small books, among them a children’s book telling the history of Camp Tracy in Oakland, Maine, which Lester was a founder, and her grandsons now proudly help support.
Her latest passion was to share a Yiddish word-of-the-day with a growing class of 75 “students”, which had started as sharing a bit of her Jewish and Yiddish culture with her grandsons over email. The group called her “Bubbe”, Yiddish for Grandmother, and she was the proud matriarch of her “Bubbe’s World”. Her last book, “A Daily Dose of Yiddish”, was of stories inspired from memories of Yiddish in her life and also included traditional Jewish recipes.
In addition to her children, she is survived by her twin sister, Esther, of Maryland, three grandsons: Benjamin and Amy Barlock and great-grandson Jonah; William and Austyn Barlock; and Nicky Howard-Rogers. She was predeceased by her parents; her oldest sister, Vivian Slosberg; her first husband, Eric Rogers; her second husband, Lester Jolovitz and her son-in-law, John Barlock.
Services will be held Monday, April 3, 2023 at 10:30am at Temple Beth El, 400 Deering Avenue in Portland with interment following at Temple Beth El Memorial Park.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Camp Tracy Alumni Fund, care of the Alfond Youth Center, 126 North St, Waterville, Maine; Temple Beth El, 400 Deering Ave, Portland, ME 04103; or Beth Israel Congregation, 291 Main St, PO Box 1882 Waterville, ME 04901.