Jolene Goldenthal

Jolene Bleich Goldenthal, born to Abraham Henry Bleich and Lillian Hochberg (Bleich) in Boston, MA on November 25, 1921, died peacefully on March 26, 2026 at the Caleb Hitchcock Center having lived for almost 70 years in West Hartford. She is survived by her sons, Peter and Lance; her granddaughters, Sara, Rebecca, Lillian, Ariel, and Maddie; and her great-grandsons, Colton, Brody, and Alden.

Jolene’s father always valued education and encouraged both his girls to pursue it. Jolene completed her secondary education at the Chapel Hill School in Waltham, MA before studying theater at Smith College (class of 1943). It was on a summer vacation from Smith when her friend and roommate first introduced her to her late husband, Carol. She’d often recount this story, noting that she knew from that first meeting that she would marry him. They corresponded by letter for a couple years until Carol graduated from Yale Medical School. They married, and moved to Richmond, VA to live while he started his residency. They briefly lived in Boston before returning to Hartford, where Carol grew up, where they stayed for the remainder of their 72-year-long marriage.

Jolene, who preferred to be called Jo (like Jo March, of course) was always a writer; her hand-written autobiography from elementary school is just one sample of her work. When her sons were in high school, she took the opportunity to go back to school and earned her MA in Literature from Trinity College. She penned scripts, monologues and poetry, publishing Mequasset by the Sea and Other Plays, a collection of stories, Oh How We Danced, and two collections of monologues for women. Her plays received national acclaim, were anthologized widely, and were performed off-broadway and across the country. She shared her words in other ways, too, including with readers of the Hartford Courant, for which she wrote an art critique column for many years.

When she wasn’t reading new releases or revising her play on her Olivetti typewriter, Jolene enjoyed traveling, playing Scrabble and Monopoly, collecting antique art and furniture, and spending time in Maine. As a child, her family vacationed in Ogunquit, and decades later, she brought her own children to Orr’s Island. She and Carol were fixtures on the island, where they spent much of their many summers together enjoying time with their family.

Funeral services will be on Tuesday, March 31, 2026 at Weinstein Mortuary 640 Farmington Ave. Hartford, CT. 06105 at 10:00am. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Emily’s List.