Mary Subin Helfer of Cheshire died March 18. She was the wife of Joel Helfer. She was the daughter of the late Ruth and Alvin Subin of Teaneck and Hackensack, N.J. In addition to her husband, she is survived by two daughters, Rachel Helfer Lipkin and Amy Maude Helfer; a son-in-law, David Lipkin; two grandsons, Jared and Jacob Lipkin; two sisters, Barbara Subin Mendelson and Nancy Subin Weiss; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.
The post HELFER appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Joan Leopold Glazier of West Hartford died March 25 at home. She was the wife of Leonard Glazier. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y, she was the daughter of Kurt A. and Henriette Leopold. She was a longtime member of The Emanuel Synagogue where she was a member of their Sisterhood, Minyonaires and countless other committees both in the Synagogue and in the community. In addition to her husband, she is survived by a son, Michael and his wife, Jody Brown, of Weston; a daughter, Bonnie, of New Windsor, N.Y.; and five grandchildren, Amy Glazier of Washington D.C., Tracy Glazier, Tyler DeBussey, Kyle DeBussey, all of New York City, and Megan DeBussey of Hartford; and a brother-in-law, Philip Glazier. She was predeceased by a sister-in-law Muriel Goldberg.
The post GLAZIER appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Helene (Margolis) Axelrod, 91, of Hamden, Conn., devoted wife of nearly 69 years to David Axelrod, died at her home on Friday, March 17, 2017. Born in New York City, April 8, 1925, she was a daughter of the late Julius and Matilda (Freed) Margolis. Beloved Mother of June A. Poses (Roy) and Robert A. Axelrod (Katrina). Dear Sister of Marilyn Mendelson. Cherished Grandmother of Daniel Poses, U.S. Army Captain Philip Axelrod & U.S. Marine 2nd LT. Benjamin Axelrod. A graduate of Hunter College, Helene received her Master’s Degree in Library Science from Southern CT State University, and was a librarian at Hamden High School for more than 20 years. Funeral Services were held at Temple Beth Sholom, 1809 Whitney Ave., Hamden Friday morning, March 24th at 11:00 o’clock with Interment Services at the Beth Sholom Cemetery, Alling St., Hamden. Memorial contributions may be sent to Temple Beth Sholom, Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund or to Hunter College/CUNY, Office of Alumni Relations, 695 Park Ave., East 1314, New York, NY 10065. Funeral Arrangements in care of Robert E. Shure Funeral Home, 543 George St., New Haven. To sign an on-line registry book or to leave a message of condolence, please visit: www.shurefuneralhome.com.
The post AXELROD appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Elinor Anne (Nemser) Adelstein died March 23 in Naples, Fla. She was the husband of Sidney Adelstein. Born in Hartford, she was the daughter of Charles and Lillian Nemser. In addition to her husband, she is survived by three sons, Robert, Lewis and Bruce; two sisters, Suzanne Fand, and Jane Canter and her husband, Len; two daughters-in-law, Taliya and Vicki; four grandchildren, Ariella, Rebecca, Esther and Ben; and many nieces and nephews.
The post ADELSTEIN appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Milton Wunsch, 82, of Boca Raton, Fla., formerly of Stamford, died March 27. He was the husband of Myrna Wunsch. He was born in New York City. He served in the U.S. Navy. Milt was a member of the Chavurat Aytz Chayim. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sons, David Wunsch and his wife Solange, and Steven Wunsch and his wife Monica; and his granddaughter Tiffany. He was also predeceased by his brother Bernard.
The post WUNSCH appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Myrna (Dabrusky) Kagan, 84, of Hamden, died April 1. She was the wife of Donald Kagan. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., she was the daughter of the late Harry and Fanny (Engelson) Dabrusky. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children, Robert Kagan and his wife Victoria Nuland of McLean, Va., and Frederick Kagan and his wife Kimberly of Washington, D.C.; her Sister Adele Buanantuono of Sterling, Va.; and her grandchildren, Elena and David Kagan.
The post KAGAN appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Bernice Fogel of Stamford, 97, died March 29. Born in Guttenburg, N.J., she was the widow of Milton Fogel. She worked for the U.S. Maritime Commission in Washington, D.C. during World War II. She was a founding member of Temple Sinai. She is survived by her children, Robin Fogel Shaivitz and her husband Joel Shaivitz, and Robert Fogel and his wife Dawn; her grandchildren, Adam Shaivitz, (Melissa Felton Shaivitz), Jeff Shaivitz, (Carolyn Zweifel), Pam Fogel Hunt, (Alex Hunt), and David Fogel; and her great-grandchildren, Gabriella Hunt and Max Milton Shaivitz.
The post FOGEL appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Stan Felson, 87, of California, died March 29. He was the widower of Pearl Felson. He was a survivor of the Holocaust. He was a longtime member of Temple Beth Sholom, San Leandro, Calif., and, later, of Beth Jacob Congregation in Oakland. He is survived by his sons, Leonard Felson and his wife Julia Rosenblum of West Hartford, Howard Felson and his wife Efrat Campagnano of Jerusalem, Israel, and Jeff Felson and his wife Mimi of Piedmont, Calif.; and eight grandchildren. He was also predeceased by his brother, Don.
The post FELSON appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Dr. Richard Feinberg, 63, of Granby, died March 22. He was the husband of Ellen Thomson. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughters, Aleyna and Julie Feinberg.
The post FEINBERG appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Roslyn Dresner, 84, of Newington, died April 1. She was the wife of Alfred J. Dresner. Born in New Haven, she was the daughter of the late Mix and Esther (Himmelstein) Swirsky. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her daughters, Debra and Mara.
The post DRESNER appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Sidney Morris Comen, 99, of, Wallingford, formerly of New Haven, died March 31. He was the widower of Shirley Comen. A veteran of World War II, he served in France, England and Germany. He is survived by his sons, Ronald Comen and his wife Wendy of Branford, Bruce Coman of Cambridge, Mass., and Steven Comen of Hamden; his grandchildren, Gregory (Debbie), Joshua (Rachel), Deven and Daniel; and his great-grandchildren, Stacia and Silas. He was also predeceased by his daughter Lisa.
The post COMEN appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Ruth Chayes of Bloomfield died March 24. She was the widow of Norman Chayes. She was a member of Beth Hillel Synagogue. She was born in Vienna, Austria. She is survived by her children, Lea and Daniel.
The post CHAYES appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
By Stacey Dresner
Henny Simon in January 2017.
COLCHESTER – Henny Simon survived living under Nazi rule in Germany, being sent to a Jewish ghetto in Latvia, and suffering unimaginable horrors at several concentration and work camps.
On April 4, Simon, 91, a longtime Holocaust educator and resident of Colchester since 1949, died tragically when her car crashed into a tree. She was pronounced dead at Backus Hospital in Norwich.
Over the years, Simon had spoken to thousands of students around the state about her experiences during the Holocaust.
“She was a courageous, indomitable, determined woman, who despite her horrific experiences lived a joyful life. She was a great lady,” said Jerome Fischer, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut. “And she was committed to telling the story of the Holocaust”.
Born Henny Rosenbaum on July 15, 1925 and raised in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany, she was the daughter of the late Ludwig and Jenny (Jacobowitz) Rosenbaum.
After the outbreak of World War II, Simon and her mother were sent to the Jewish Ghetto in Riga, Latvia. Her father had already made it to Shanghai, China in April of 1940. Simon and her mother had planned to join him, but their visas were cancelled in 1941. From the ghetto, Simon and her mother were sent to the Strasdenhof Work Camp in Riga in December of 1941. Her mother was one of thousands of Jews who were marched by the Nazis into Bikernieki Forest near Riga, and shot and buried in a mass grave.
From November 1943 through January 1945, Simon endured the atrocities of the Stutthof Concentration Camp near Gdanzk and Korben Work Camp, a branch of K.Z. Stutthof.
On Jan. 20, 1945, Simon and other prisoners were liberated in Koronowo, Poland by the Russian Army. While in Poland, she met Abram Markiewicz, a survivor of Auschwitz. The two were married on August 25, 1945 and left Poland to return to Germany in the hopes of finding any of her surviving family members. They welcomed their first child, Jacob, in Germany in 1946.
Henny Simon in Germany in 1938.
On Thanksgiving 1949, the family immigrated to the United States to be reunited with her father, who had arrived here in 1948. Simon and her husband purchased a poultry and dairy farm in Colchester.
“Henny was part of a new community of survivors who resettled in Eastern Connecticut after the war with the help of the Baron de Hirsch fund,” Fischer said.
In 1951 came the birth of their second child, Jenny. Abram passed away in 1976.
Neither he nor Henny had ever revealed many details of their experiences during the war. In January of 1981, Henny married Robert Simon. The couple remained on the farm in Colchester.
With the encourangement of her husband Bob, who died in 2001, Henny recorded her story at the Yale University Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. In 1986, she began telling her story to groups of young people in schools and other venues. Soon after that she met Fischer.
“She had already been talking about her experiences during the Holocaust at schools in Colchester. We started to utilize her to speak in many more schools,” said Fischer.
In 2009, Simon wrote a book, Am I My Brother’s Keeper? The Story of the Holocaust. And she continued to talk to groups about her experience.
Shannon Saglio, a social studies teacher at East Lyme High School, met Simon through the Jewish Federation’s “Encountering Survivors,” program, which paired local schools with survivors. Students would visit the survivors to learn about their lives before, during and after the war, with the goal of creating more “witnesses” who would be able to share survivors’ stories after they are gone. Simon also came to East Lyme to talk to Saglio’s students.
“She always preferred larger crowds because she wanted as many people to hear what had happened as possible to try to keep these stories alive. It was her way also of fighting back against the deniers that are out there,” Saglio said.
In 2015, East Lyme High School held an assembly honoring Henny Simon and presented her with a varsity Letter.
“She was an athlete when she was young and she was always so angry that as a teenager her athleticism and her ability to compete was taken away [by the Nazis],” Saglia said.
Over time, Simon become close friends with Benjamin Cooper of West Hartford, a World War II medic who was with Eisenhower’s troops and who witnessed the liberation of Dachau. At the time they met, Copper also had been speaking to schoolchildren about his experiences during the war. Together, she and Ben continued their educational mission by speaking jointly at schools about their closely related war experiences; he as a soldier and she as a survivor.
Whenever Henny was faced with a difficult situation or was told she could not accomplish something, she embraced it as a challenge and took great satisfaction in proving otherwise. In addition to sharing her story, she volunteered for Meals on Wheels, American Red Cross Bloodmobiles, was a Life Member of Hadassah, the Sisterhood of the Congregation Ahavath Achim, and the Board of the Strochlitz Holocaust Research Center in New London.
She is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Jenny and Stuart Rabinowitz of Glastonbury; a daughter-in-law, Paula Markiewicz of Lake Katrine, N.Y.; grandchildren, Michelle Rabinowitz, Aaron Rabinowitz and his fiancée, Kira Shin St. Denis, Lee Markiewicz and his wife, Amy, Abram Markiewicz and his wife, Alexa, and great-grandchildren, Ethan, Asa and Ani. She was also predeceased by her son, Jacob Markiewicz; a brother, Hans Rosenbaum in 1940; and a brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Leonard and Greta Markiewicz.
The post Holocaust survivor Henny Simon, 91, dies in car accident appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
William “Bill” Mandelbaum, 77, of Bloomfield, died April 10. He was the husband of Ruthann (Friedman) Mandelbaum. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., he was the son of the late Herbert and Mary (Levine) Mandelbaum. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children, Evan Mandelbaum and Jennifer Rock; his sister Isabell Mandelbaum; and his grandchildren, Hunter and Marnie Rock, and Sara and Max Mandelbaum.
The post MANDELBAUM appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Scott B. Friedman, 24, died April 10. He was the husband of Megan Kantner. He was the son of Ken Friedman and Betsy Davis. In addition to his wife and parents, he is survived by his grandparents, and his siblings, Michael and Zoe.
The post FRIEDMAN appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Louis A. Feldman, 95, of Fairfield, formerly of Stamford, died April 1. He was the widower of Ethel Kramer Feldman. Born in Cos Cob, he was the son of Morris and Gussie Feldman. He was in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, serving in the Pacific until his discharge in April 1946. He is survived by his daughters, Ilene Feldman and her husband Harvey Bluestein, and Jane Fine and her husband Charles; his grandsons, Samuel and Michael Bluestein, both of Fairfield; and several nieces and nephews and their families.
The post FELDMAN appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Victoria G. Cowan, 100, of Boca Raton, Fla., died April 11. She was the widow of Daniel M. Cowan. Raised in New York City and Lausanne, Switzerland, she was the daughter of Oscar and Claire Grab. She is survived by her daughter Claire Evans of West Hartford; her son-in-law Steven Rosenthal of Bethesda, Md.; her grandchildren, Brian Rosenthal, Debbie Bellusci and her husband Vincent, Donald Evans and his wife Jill, and Gwen Goldstein and her husband Joel; and her great-grandchildren, Alexandra, Olivia and Evan Bellusci, William and Andrew Evans and Jordana Goldstein. She was also predeceased by her daughter Judith Rosenthal and her son-in-law Jerome Evans.
The post COWAN appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Hyman “Hy” Cohen, 78, of Coconut Creek, Fla., formerly of Newington, died April 10. He was the husband of Susan Cohen. Born in Hartford, he was the son of the late Abraham and Sadie Cohen. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sons, Bruce Cohen and his wife Francine of Enfield, and Steven Cohen and his wife Lisa of East Hampton; two granddaughters, Jessica and Lyndsey; his brother Allan Cohen and his wife Ellen of Potomac, Md.; and several nieces and nephews and their families. He was also predeceased by his sister Gail.
The post COHEN appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Bertha Chayes, 100, of Fairfield, died April 5. She was the widow of Morris Chayes. She was born in Vienna and fled to America during the Holocaust. She was also predeceased by her grandson, Jonathan Singer. She is survived by her daughters, Judy Singer and her husband David, and Naomi Goldman and her husband Mark; six grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
The post CHAYES appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
Harriet (Bukoff) Calechman, 85, of New Haven, died April 12. She was the wife of Jack Calechman. Born in Bronx, N.Y., she was the daughter of the late Sidney and Jenny (Simon) Bukoff. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children, Karen Calechman and her husband Jerry Prell of Long Beach, Calif., and Kim Gifford and her husband Burton of Hamden; and her grandchildren, Alison, Ari, Leah and Jordan. She was also predeceased by her sister, Annette Bukoff Kaiser.
The post CALECHMAN appeared first on Jewish Ledger.
