Retired Central Bucks Teacher, Author, Abolitionist's Descendant Has Died At 98

WARRINGTON, PA — Laura Ann Mitchell Keene, who lived in Warrington and taught in Central Bucks schools for decades, died in her home on Jan. 6 at the age of 98.

According to an obituary by Valerie Russ published in the Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday, Keene was a descendant of the Philadelphia abolitionist John “Jean” Pierre Burr, one of the organizers of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.

She had two children with the artist Paul Farwell Keene Jr., to whom she was married for 65 years. They moved to Warrington in 1957, an obituary in the Philadelphia Tribune detailed.

"In the 1950s, she had her own Rosa Parks moment when she refused to move to the back of the bus at the transition point in Delaware on her way from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.," James Jackson wrote for the Tribune.

Keene taught in the Central Bucks School District at Warwick and Doyle elementary schools during the 1980s and '90s, according to the Tribune.

Keene enjoyed travel and immersing herself in culture. She was born in West Philadelphia, and her 2017 memoir "A Woman of Worth" chronicled memories of family and faith there — as well as the many places she'd go.

"From Philadelphia to Paris to Haiti, A Woman of Worth is an important record of a woman’s life as she pursues her passion for education as a library clerk, student nurse and elementary school teacher," the book's blurb reads. "This true story of what it was like to be young and black in America will inspire you with the power of family, faith and love, and have you celebrating Laura Keene’s long fulfilling life."

Read more about the life of Laura Ann Mitchell Keene:

• Laura Mitchell Keene, author, retired schoolteacher, descendant of abolitionist John Pierre Burr, dies at 98 in the Philadelphia Inquirer
• Laura Ann Mitchell Keene, 98, elementary school teacher in the Philadelphia Tribune