LEWISTON — Libby Goldman, a beloved teacher in Auburn for 40 years and a 1929, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Bates College, died in Lewiston at the age of 102.

Ms. Goldman began her teaching career in September 1929, at Jay High School in Livermore Falls, teaching three classes of Latin, two of French and one of algebra. The following year, Ms. Goldman found a position at Lincoln School, where she taught for 22 years. She then moved on to the Edward Little High School, from which she had graduated in 1925, where she taught Latin and French from 1952 until her retirement in 1971. After she retired, Ms Goldman became a world traveler, visiting Europe, Asia, Israel and South Africa.

For more than 70 years, students would stop her in the street to say hello and bring her up-to-date on their accomplishments. They all agreed that she made them feel special. Ms. Goldman observed in interviews when she turned 100, “It is not just how much you are loved in your life, but how many people you have to love. I have had a lot of people to love.”

Ms. Goldman was born in Vabolnik, a small town in Lithuania and came to the United States with her parents, Samuel and Fannie Morrill Goldman and a four-year-old brother, when she was a few months old. The family joined relatives in New York, but when she was three, they moved to Auburn. According to family lore, a relative who was living in Auburn had written to them urging them to come to Auburn because “… you can get a house cheap here.” It turned out that he had written “you can get a horse cheap here.” The family moved to a part of Auburn which Ms. Goldman described as a “Little League of Nations.” Her friends were French Canadian, Scots, English, Irish and Jewish. There was one black family on the block, the Murrays.

Ms. Goldman’s high school teacher, Mary Carroll, persuaded her parents to send her to college. Her parents felt that if Ms. Carroll came to their house to praise their daughter’s ability and potential for college, they should listen to her. With the little savings they had and by living at home and walking from New Auburn to school, Ms. Goldman became one of the first women to graduate from Bates.

Ms. Goldman had an older and a younger brother and is survived by their children: Phyllis and Howard Feigenbaum and their children, Richard and Jill Feigenbaum and Michael and Andrew Feigenbaum; and Steven and Susan Goldman. She never married, but her cousin, Fran Morrill Schlitt, became as close as a daughter to her. Ms. Goldman saw her the day after she was born in Auburn 75 years ago and has been a part of Fran Schlitt’s life ever since. She has been the virtual grandmother to Fran and Jacob Schlitt’s son, David.

Ms. Goldman lived until her mid-90s in a second floor walk-up apartment on Broad Street in Auburn, going everywhere on foot or by bus. She reluctantly agreed to move into an independent living, retirement community, Montello Heights in Lewiston, which she came to love and the staff and residents immediately fell in love with her. Many of the residents were her former pupils.

Her 100th birthday sparked major celebrations in Auburn-Lewiston and Brookline. Letters of congratulations poured in, including one from President George W. Bush, which she immediately discarded. Bates College sent their choral group to sing “Happy Birthday” in four-part harmony and presented her with a special message from the college president.

Ms. Goldman was active in the Maine Teachers Association and in their organization of retired teachers; and was a lifetime member of Hadassah, B’nai B’rith and Beth Abraham Synagogue, of which she was sisterhood past president. Ms. Goldman was in excellent health until a few months ago. She was a voracious reader, a first rate scrabble and cribbage player and a wonderful storyteller, with a great sense of humor.