Dr. Rose Berry, a UALR emeritus professor of education whose early use of technology comforted a generation of latch-key children in central Arkansas and influenced hundreds of elementary school teachers, died Thursday at age 93.

A native of Hazen, Ark., and a teacher for nearly a decade at Forest Park Elementary School, Berry chaired UALR’s Department of Early Childhood Education in the 1970s and 1980s, instilling in her students the importance books and literature played in how a child learned.

“She wanted us to understand the power of books in a child’s life,” said Mary Boaz, a 1977 graduate who studied under Berry and is now UALR’s director of planned giving in the Office of Development. “I still have in my attic the book lists and evaluations she wanted us to take to classrooms.”

Berry joined the faculty of Little Rock University (LRU) in 1961 as an assistant professor of education following seven years with the Little Rock School District. During her 24-year career at LRU and UALR, she received UALR’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 1974, was named Arkansas Woman of the Year in 1975, and received the Award of Excellence for outstanding volunteer services in education in 1981.

A born storyteller, Berry’s ability to weave a child’s fairy tale into suspense-filled oral stories sparked her development of UALR’s “Dial-A-Story” program, offering high-quality children’s literature stories via telephone answering machine. On her retirement, Berry and her husband continued the program, providing lively recitations of children’s literature over the telephone on a call-in line.

“She and her husband recorded children’s stories that anyone, anywhere could dial up on the phone and listen to the story of the day,” said Chrysanne Demirel, whose children called the story line in the afternoons before their parents came home from work. “It kept my latch-key kids happy in the 1980s. It was something entertaining and reassuring that they could do on their own at home after school since they weren’t allowed outside to play until a parent returned home from work.”

After retirment, the Berrys turned the basement of their home into a warehouse of puppets to help illustrate classic stories, volunteering to read and bring her puppets to Little Rock elementary schools for story time.

“She had a seemingly endless well of energy when it came to teaching children the power of reading,” Boaz said.

Berry’s love of books and the power they have in early education will continue beyond her death.

After her retirement from the University, Berry established charitable gift annuities to benefit UALR. Boaz said the residual of the $15,000 and $10,000 annuities will increase the already established Dr. Rose Berry Endowed Scholarship in the College of Education to benefit junior or senior students studying elementary or early childhood education.