Rose Ann “Posy” Huebner; 1923-2014: School founder became docent at art museum

6/22/2014

Rose Ann “Posy” Huebner, founder of Toledo’s Gateway School and longtime docent at the Toledo Museum of Art, died Saturday at Ebeid Hospice, part of ProMedica Flower Hospital, Sylvania.

She was 91 and suffered from lung problems, although the family did not know the exact cause of death.

Mrs. Huebner was known to Toledoans as “Miss Posy,” from her role as a teacher at Gateway from its founding as a preschool and kindergarten in 1942 until her retirement in 1979.

“She was about 50 years ahead of her time. She was a real pioneer. She started her own business 70 years ago,” her son, Brad, said.

Mr. Huebner, a graduate of his mother’s classes at Gateway, said she “thrived on education.”

After retiring from Gateway, Mrs. Huebner went back to school at the University of Toledo, taking classes in art history simply because she was interested.

She became a docent at the Toledo Museum of Art and worked tirelessly learning about the museum’‍s exhibits and teaching others.

“She spent probably more time in the museum than she did in her own house,” her granddaughter, Heather Lady, said, adding that “you could bet that she knew everything there was to know” about the exhibits.

“She was a wonderful, generous, spirited, good-humored, and highly intelligent woman who was one of our best-loved docents,” said Brian Kennedy, the museum’‍s director.

Mrs. Huebner was a dedicated attendee of the Toledo Symphony at the museum’‍s Peristyle, going back to its inaugural concert in 1933 when she was 10.

“I spent a lot of Saturday nights when I was a child with them at the Peristyle,” Mrs. Lady said, referring to Mrs. Huebner and her husband, Bob, who died in 2004.

The Huebners, who were married Feb. 28, 1941, helped establish the Blair Museum of Lithophanes at the Toledo Botanical Garden.

She donated generously to many local institutions, including creating the Robert L. Huebner and Posy Huebner Collection of original art by children’s literature illustrators, which currently has 125 pieces and is on display at the main branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library.

Her family explained how fiercely Mrs. Huebner loved Toledo.

“She and my grandfather did everything they could to better the city,” Mrs. Lady said. “She was an educator and a philanthropist and a lover of the arts,” Mr. Huebner said.

She was born Feb. 8, 1923, to Blanche Gotshall and Alfred Britsch and graduated from Scott High School in 1940 and UT in 1944.

Surviving are her son, Brad; three grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Walker Funeral Home. A memorial service will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, with a reception afterward.

The family suggests tributes to the Blair Museum of Lithophanes.

Contact Stephen Gruber-Miller at: smiller@theblade.com, 419-724-6050, or on Twitter @sgrubermiller.