Everywhere Jan Ballard Bohna went in Pittsburgh, little kids would sidle up to her and ask, "Are you Miss Jan?" Some young fans once approached her as she sat with her family at a dinner club in Acapulco, Mexico.

Jan Bohna ... 1970

It was no wonder. Thousands of preschoolers in the late 1950s, '60s and early '70s, woke up each weekday to a televised lesson from the local host of "Romper Room" on WIIC-TV and later on WTAE-TV.

Years later, when Ms. Bohna and her husband ran University Travel Service Inc. and she guided tour groups, adults would have the same star-struck reaction.

"They would get on the bus to go to the airport. Somebody would say, 'Aren't you Miss Jan from "Romper Room"?' and then you'd hear, 'Oh, Miss Jan!' from the rest of the bus," said Dick Macino, who arranged trips to Broadway and London shows for Pittsburgh Press readers.

Ms. Bohna died Thursday at her mother's home in Jonesboro, Ark., after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 70.

She studied elementary education and music at Murray State University in Kentucky and had been teaching elementary school in Beaver for about three years, when in 1958 she spotted a newspaper ad for a new children's show that was looking for a host.

"Romper Room" employed about 100 hometown hosts across the country who followed the same lesson plan day-by-day, with a rotating cast of children.

Ms. Bohna, an attractive and charismatic woman who was crowned "Miss Jonesboro" as a young adult, took the train in for a screen test and landed the job at WIIC-TV, said her daughter, Jill Bohna Cain, of Reno, Nev.

"She had to be this serious preschool teacher and we used to try to break her up," said guitarist Joe Negri, who came on each morning after "Miss Jan" when she took over for "Miss Janey" Vance on WTAE. "I would tease her with funny, jazzy versions of 'Romper Room' songs."

When she began a career in modeling and fashion, Mr. Negri occasionally played background music for her runway shows. She coordinated fashion events for Saks Fifth Avenue and was featured in print ads for Kaufmann's, Gimbels and Horne's.

Former Pittsburgh Press fashion editor Barbara Cloud, who became a close friend, recalled her as one of the top models in town.

Ms. Bohna settled in Squirrel Hill. She attended St. Paul Cathedral and took on leadership roles at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, the Women's Press Club, Press Club of Western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, the Pittsburgh Opera Auxiliary, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Civic Light Opera Association.

In addition to her daughter, Jill, she is survived by her husband, John A. Bohna; a daughter, Gretchen Bohna Weissner, of Hollywood, Fla.; a son, Craig Bohna, of Pittsburgh; her mother, Hazel Wilkins, of Jonesboro; a sister, Suzi Ballard Bridger, of Jonesboro; a brother, Steve R. Ballard, of Jonesboro; and two grandchildren.

A funeral will be held tomorrow in Jonesboro.

Donations may be made to American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123-1718 or the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, P.O. Box 650309, Dallas, TX 75265-0309.