Janet Learned Rodell of Bethany and more recently of Cheshire, died in the early hours of Good Friday. She was 98. A pioneer in early childhood education, a leader in local Democratic politics and the widow of the late Professor Fred Rodell of Yale Law School, Janet lived for 50 years on Falls Road in Bethany at the house she and Fred christened High Happy. Born in in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on November 18, 1909 to Rebecca Cowan and Frank Learned, Janet soon moved with her family to Stoneham, Massachusetts, where she spent much of her childhood. She attended Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, graduating in 1932. Janet majored in psychology and in her junior year went on a field trip to a nursery school in Cambridge. Nursery schools were fairly rare in those days, and Janet decided right then that she wanted to work with children. In 1934 Janet won an internship at the University of Iowa, working at their new Child Welfare Research Station and living in Iowa City. She received her MA from Iowa in 1936. After her father's death in 1937, Janet moved East to be closer to her mother. She had learned from her dean that Dr. Arnold Gesell at Yale was looking for a nursery school teacher. In 1938 she moved to New Haven to join Dr. Gesell and Dr. Francis Ilg at the Yale Clinic for Child Development. Janet worked at Yale under Dr. Ilg from 1938 until 1950. While there, she collaborated with Gesell and Ilg on the landmark "Infant and Child in the Culture of Today". She also earned her PhD and worked with Louise Ames, Ruth Matraux and Dick Walker on two books about interpreting children's Rorschach responses. In 1950, Dr. Gesell retired. Dr. Ilg bought two big houses on Prospect Street in New Haven and with Janet and Louise Bates Ames, Dr. Ilg then formed the Gesell Institute of Child Development, which carries on to this day. Janet served on the Board of Directors until her death. In 1954 Janet married Fred Rodell whose son Mike was one of her early nursery school students. With a husband, a house, and a teenage stepson to handle, she cut down on her time at Gesell, although she remained interested and in touch. She was the ultimate professor's wife, often being called on to entertain and feed twenty or so of Fred's students on two hours notice. Guests might also include a hodgepodge of Supreme Court justices, writers, newspaper people, entertainers and even lawyers, all circulating among a herd of medium black poodles. Janet, Fred and the poodles, including her favorite one, Bourbon, also traveled widely, from Martha's Vineyard, to Aspen, to the Basque country of France. Fred Rodell passed away in 1980, and Janet remained in Bethany, taking an active role in local conservation initiatives, gardening and even taking dance classes until well into her 80s. Her house remained a family gathering place for her extended family, including Mike and his crew, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Janet's favorite advice was "make memories", and she encouraged one and all to enjoy life as she did. In 2004, Janet moved out of High Happy and into Elim Park Place where she missed her garden and her friends but not the fifty-year old furnace. Despite her failing eyesight, she took daily walks and kept her unvaryingly sunny outlook. Just last Fall she attended an event honoring Linda Greenhouse of the NY Times at Yale Law School. Linda, not surprisingly, was just one of her many nursery school graduates. Predeceased by her only sibling Bill, Janet is survived by her son Mike and his wife Taffy, her grandchildren Matthew (and wife Jenna), Ben and Amanda, great-grandchildren Bridgette and Luke, her nieces Toddy Fox, Betsy Jouannet and Susanna Rodell, her nephews Jim Learned and Timothy Rodell, a collection of great nephews and nieces, not to mention various cousins and second cousins and a huge collection of friends and admirers spread across the country. A celebration of Janet's life is planned this spring at a site in or close to her beloved Bethany. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Bethany Land Trust, or to the Connecticut Audubon Society.