WEST HARTFORD – Dr. Maurine E. Kessler, whose husband Rabbi Stanley Kessler served as rabbi of Beth El Temple in West Hartford for more than three decades, died on Monday, July 15.  She was 85.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1925 to  Eli and Dorothy (Letween) Evnen, Kessler was a 1947 graduate of Nebraska University with a degree in audiology. She came to West Hartford in 1954 when her husband assumed the pulpit at Beth El and she took a position working for the Hartford Hearing League.
“When we first came to West Hartford, Maurine opened up her house to us,” recalled Rabbi Jim Rosen, who took over as spiritual leader of Beth El following Rabbi Kessler’s retirement in 1985.  “She was a very gracious homemaker and she always had this aura of kindness. She had a very sharp wit and was so intelligent but never displayed any kind of arrogance. She was always filled with the sense of humility, but was so accomplished. I saw the veneration in which Rabbi Kessler held her. We saw it around the Shabbat table, when he would praise her work and character, unsolicited.
It was a privilege to be around her.”

Kessler later worked at Newington Children’s Hospital for many years, and earned a Masters degree in 1972 and a PhD in 1978 from University of Connecticut. From 1978 until 1990, she served on the faculty of Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) in the Department of Communication Disorders.
Deeply respected by colleagues, students, parents and children with hearing impairments — many of whom consulted with her for years even after her retirement from SCSU – she was twice nominated by her students for the “Distinguished Teaching Award.” She also won several other professional awards and was frequently published or cited in professional journals and text books.
While in Israel with her husband during the academic year 1949 – 1950, she was approached by Hadassah Hospital to meet with nurses weekly to share with them her knowledge of audiological services. Her volunteer lectures made a significant impact on the medical staff of Hadassah Jerusalem and influenced their initiating a Department of Audiology at Hadassah Hospital.
She visited Israel frequently with her husband and, in 1991, became a primary resource to parents of hearing impaired children who were forming an organization called Auditory Verbal Israel (AV Israel). Each time she returned to Jerusalem, she gave courses to professionals in auditory–verbal methodology, especially with the development of cochlear implants. She was invited to serve on the faculty of the University of Tel Aviv at Tel HaShomer in the field of Communication Disorders. In 2001, she was honored by AV Israel, which named its facility in Jerusalem the “Dr. Maurine Kessler Auditory Verbal Education Center.” In June 2007, at the gala celebration of AV Israel’s 13th anniversary, she was honored as the “Godmother” of the organization’s coming into being.
“My wife and I were traveling in Israel and met people in the field of audiology and Maureen was legendary among them,” said Rosen. “She was a pioneer in bringing techniques there.”
Kessler’s professional accomplishments, noted Rosen, were also an inspiration to many in the community, especially women.
“The old role of rebbetzin was where the rabbi was the rabbi and the rebbetzin was in charge of tea at the Oneg Shabbat, with no real life outside the home and synagogue,” he explained. “Maurine established her own career and urged women to find their own voices in the Jewish community and in general society.”
In addition to her husband, Maurine Kessler is survived by her children, Abigail K. Hanna, MD, and Jonathan J. Kessler, her granddaughter Georgine Hoge, and her brothers, Everett Evnen and his wife Elaine, and Arnold Kessler and his wife Naomi.