Born and raised in Branford, Jane W. Rosenthal was involved in politics and many other civic organizations in town. During World War II, she volunteered at War Price and Rationing Board. She was Registrar of Voters in the First District, and she ran for Branford’s State Representative. Passionate about gardens and floral arranging, Jane was also a proud member of the Branford Garden Club. Her name is most synonymous, however, with the Owenego, where she lived, worked, and played.

Jane married the late Dr. Richard L. Rosenthal after the death of her first husband, the Honorable Cornelius T. Driscoll. While Jane traveled extensively, there was no place that she treasured more than the Owenego, the place that she loved to share with everyone, located in the town she was so proud to call her lifelong home. Throughout her 60-year tenure at the Owenego, Jane insisted on keeping membership fees affordable, so that everyone would have access to the waterfront and grounds that she so dearly loved.

Jane enthusiastically supported many town endeavors. In fact, she and Dr. Richard Rosenthal offered Dick’s familial homestead to the town at a greatly reduced rate, in order to enable the transformation of the property into affordable housing for senior citizens. Known as Rosenthal Gardens, the grounds are now open to the public, so that everyone may explore and enjoy the beautiful gardens.

In wanting to do something to honor their aunt, her family decided to establish a fund in Jane’s name through the Branford Community Foundation. As a means of raising money, the family decided to hold a tag sale at the Owenego, proceeds which would benefit Jane’s fund. In addition to the perks of clearing out attics and basements from generations of families and decades of doing business, the tag sale raised the initial seed money for Jane’s Fund. Through this fund, the generosity that Jane shared with her beloved town during her lifetime will now continue in her memory.