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August 27, 2004/Elul 10 5763, Vol. 55, No. 49
Obituaries
Lester H. Blonder
Lester H. Blonder of Scottsdale died Aug. 6, 2004. He was 81. He was born in Boston and moved to Arizona from Maine in 1989. He was the owner of a home appliance business. He was a U.S. Navy veteran and served in World War II. He was a member of the Masons.
Survivors include his son, Jeffrey of Eugene, Ore.
Services were held at Sunland Memorial Park, with Rabbi Irwin Weiner officiating. Arrangements were made by Sinai Mortuary.
Contributions are suggested to American Cancer Society, 2929 E. Thomas Road, Phoenix 85016.
Shirley Goot Rothenberg
Wife, mother, grandmother, friend
The first thing people noticed about her were her hands - long, slender fingers. Beautiful nails. Then her jet black hair and piercing blue eyes. And finally her smile. Ruby lips framing a bit of a snaggle -the result of a car accident the very day she had her braces removed as a young girl.
Her handwriting was utterly unique - tiny, precise, yet nearly indecipherable. Her love of ketchup was legendary. On eggs, chicken parmagiana... she left legions of exasperated waiters and chefs in her wake.
Then there was her "powerful right arm..." an almost mythic weapon she threatened to unleash on family and friends in moments of exasperation. A weapon no one can ever remember seeing unleashed in her lifetime.
Shirley was born in to middle-class comfort in LaSalle, Illinois, daughter of Jewish immigrants fleeing pogroms. Yet she lived a brave, entrepreneurial life, filled with self-sacrifice, hard work and devotion to others. When her first husband Henry went to war, she ran the small business he had started, and continued to work beside him when working women were not at all the norm.
She was completely devoted to her three children, abandoning an easy, comfortable life in Illinois - all her friends, everything she'd known - to move to Phoenix, in 1958, so her kids might have more opportunities.
She endured her share of tragedies. As she and Henry struggled to build a new life in Phoenix, she cared for two sick parents, visiting her Alzheimers-stricken father daily in his final years. She watched her daughter die young of lupus. Then watched her beloved sister Bert and niece Pam waste away and die young. And just as she and Henry reached retirement and empty-nestdom, he was taken from her too.
But she found love again. In Sam, an upright, never-been-married professor from Syracuse, NY, she found a devoted life partner with whom she was inseparable for nearly fifteen years. And she had the joy of watching seven grandchildren grow into adults.
When Sam too left her and she became ill, she found herself playing an uncomfortable and unaccustomed role. She had to let other people take care of her. She had to let them return the years of love and sacrifice that had flowed so naturally from her for years. It didn't come easy. But she was blessed with Carol, Arliene, Marie and others - a team of kind, patient caregivers that became as close to her as family. And a son and daughter-in-law who re-shaped their lives to make sure she didn't lack for love and care and companionship.
Now she's gone. And everything she was - strong, stubborn, principled, devoted, loving and proud - is just a memory, and a challenge to all her children, grandchildren and friends. She'll be missed, especially by those who "worried her to death."
Funeral services were held Tuesday, August 24th at Sinai Mortuary chapel with interment at Beth El Cemetery. Contributions in her memory may be directed to American Cancer Society, 2929 E. Thomas Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85016 or Hospice of the Valley, 1510 E. Flower St., Phoenix, AZ 85014.
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