When a woman newly arrived in Baltimore from New York struggled to find community, Frona Greenspun quietly made room for her.
Greenspun called and invited the woman to sit beside her at Beth El Congregation during the High Holidays, offering not just a synagogue seat, but an entry point into Jewish communal life. Years later, the gesture still stood out to the family friend, who remembered Greenspun’s warmth and instinct for making people feel included.
“That was who she was,” her daughter, Minna Pomeroy, said. “She always made people feel welcomed and loved.”
Greenspun, a longtime Baltimore-area Jewish community volunteer, teacher, pharmacy clerk and mother and grandmother, whose Southern upbringing shaped a lifetime of graciousness and hospitality, died on April 28 at 90.
Born in Newport News, Virginia, Greenspun grew up in a close-knit Jewish family connected to Rodef Sholom Temple. Her father, Allen Conn, was an accountant who became vice president of finance for Basic Construction Company. Her mother, Dorothy, came from a Baltimore Jewish family.
Growing up in Newport News, “We always had dinner together, every night together,” her sister, Betty Kornblum, said. “We brought that along to our family when we had children.”
Relatives said her Southern upbringing remained evident throughout her life. She cared about manners and hospitality. Handwritten thank-you notes were expected in the Greenspun household, and guests were always welcomed warmly.
Pomeroy said her mother often spoke about being shy as a young girl in Virginia, and family members believed leaving home for college and later moving to Baltimore helped transform her confidence.
Greenspun attended the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the mid-1950s, studying education before moving to Baltimore to teach second grade at Wellwood International School.
Family members said Baltimore represented independence for the young Southern woman, though relatives in Baltimore reassured her parents she would not be on her own.
In Baltimore, she met Gordon Greenspun through friends in Jewish social circles. What began as friendship eventually turned into romance after Gordon told her he no longer wanted to hear about her dates; he wanted to be her date instead.
The couple married in 1960 and Gordon Greenspun entered the real estate and land development field. They remained together for 58 years until his death in 2018. Their children said the marriage endured because the two approached life in Owings Mills with similar priorities and a shared commitment to raising a close family.
“They had the same values,” her son, Michael Greenspun, said. “Family, education and being together were always important to them.”
After the births of her children, Greenspun left teaching to become a full-time mother. Her son Michael Greenspun said she was deeply involved in her children’s lives and paid close attention to them. Family members described her as loving and attentive, but also firm about honesty, manners and expectations.
“She was a mother who paid very careful attention to her children,” he said. “She was very involved in our lives.”
Her children said she especially valued shared meals, Jewish holidays and synagogue life at Beth El, with Passover Seders rotating between relatives’ homes in Baltimore and New Jersey.
Michael Greenspun said one of the most important family experiences came in 1981, when the family traveled to Israel through their synagogue.
“That was the first international destination that any of us ever went to,” he said. “They really wanted us to go there.”
Family members said Greenspun maintained a strong connection to Israel throughout her life, regularly purchasing Israel bonds for her children and later for her grandchildren.
At age 59, Greenspun fulfilled a longtime dream by becoming a bat mitzvah at Beth El, something that had not been available to many Southern Jewish girls during her childhood.
“It was something that meant something to her because she was so devoted to Judaism,” Pomeroy said.
Greenspun also volunteered many years for Hadassah and Beth El Sisterhood, helping organize programs, speakers and events.
In the mid-1980s through the 1990s, she rejoined the workforce as a clerk for Osler Pharmacy in Towson. Family members said she enjoyed helping customers. Her daughter remembered her coming home with stories about customers and coworkers, and keeping a large medical reference book nearby to help answer questions about illnesses and medications.
Later in life, she and her husband became snowbirds in Boynton Beach, Florida, where they took classes at Florida Atlantic University, explored local nature preserves and maintained active social lives. Greenspun played bridge and mahjong, while her husband played tennis.
Together, they traveled extensively and built friendships in Florida while remaining connected to Baltimore.
Family members said Greenspun had a gift for sustaining friendships and making people feel included wherever she lived.
“She just had a way of making people feel good,” Pomeroy said.
Relatives also remembered Greenspun for her elegance and attention to detail. Michael Greenspun said his mother was known for always looking polished and put together, while Pomeroy recalled her mother’s love of fashion, accessories and beautifully maintained homes.
“She was impeccably dressed,” Michael Greenspun said. “Everything matched, everything was nice, everything was in its place.”
Her grandchildren occupied a special place in her life. Family members recalled shopping trips, performances, vacations and the unofficial family motto: “What happens at Nana’s stays at Nana’s.”
“She really took a lot of pride in her six grandkids,” Pomeroy said.
Even during her final years, relatives said Greenspun remained focused on others. About a week and a half before she died of a chronic lung disease, Michael Greenspun said, she reminded his wife to put on a sweater before going outside.
“Even 10 days before she died, she’s still worrying about other people,” he said.
For her daughter, that instinct to care for others remained at the center of who she was throughout her life.
“She was a beautiful person inside and out,” Pomeroy said.
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance obituary writer. She welcomes suggestions for individuals who had meaningful ties to the Baltimore Jewish community. Email [email protected].
