Celia Levy

Celia H. (Lisses) Levy did not move from Aventura, Florida to Sonoma, California until she was 90 years old, but her warm and witty personality endeared her to many Sonomans in the nearly 10 years she lived in a community she came quickly to love. Cyl, as she preferred to be called, in keeping with her "lets-not-make-a-big-deal-about-me" casualness, died peacefully Saturday January 9, 2016 at her home with her family at hand. She was 99.

"Our mom was a strong, smart and stubborn woman who had a full, long life and lived it on her own terms," said Cyl's daughter Mara Kahn, who is a notable Sonoma realtor. "And I mean literally strong. This woman of valor worked out not once but twice a day on an elliptical machine at her independent living complex up until a week before she died. She had an active mind that attracted her 60 faithful Facebook followers. She always set a wonderful example for our family and others to follow."

Cyl's son, Lawrence (Larry) Levy, a journalist and executive dean at Hofstra University on Long Island, NY, said his mother continuously passed along her strong values and virtues to family and friends. "She did so the old fashioned way -- not by being preachy but by living them for all of us to see, even if sometimes we'd prefer not to," said Larry, who was raised with Mara in Valley Stream, Long Island. "Whether it was condemning racist language, to fighting for better working conditions for her co-workers, to founding a synagogue when the existing ones didn't meet her and her friends' needs, to making sure students received the resources they needed -- well, she led by example."

In Sonoma, Cyl was recognized as the oldest cancer survivor to walk a lap in the American Cancer Society's annual Relay for Life. She did not only walk, she used her "elliptical muscles" to carry the torch for part of the event. At 91, not long after she arrived in Sonoma, Cyl became a "mini-celebrity" when she appeared for nearly a year in an advertisement for the former Sonoma Valley Bank to promote online banking. The idea of the ad was to show younger people how easy it was to bank remotely if the bank's "oldest online customer" could do it.

According to her children and son-in-law Phil Kahn, a well-know Sonoma-area businessman and canine enthusiast, Cyl was especially grateful for the friends she made, her Congregation Shir Shalom family and the care she received at the Brookdale independent living center. But even there she showed her own spirit. Not long after she became a resident, she was determined to improve the food and became active on a committee that did just that. The day after she died her friends at the center placed flowers at her place setting where she would have joined them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. "They all loved each other," said Mara, who visited often. "They will miss her."

Cyl was born in Wilkes Barre, Pa. in 1916, the eldest child of Russian immigrants. She graduated from James Monroe High School in the Bronx, and while she was a shop steward and organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in the 1930s and '40s, she attended Hunter College at night and on weekends. After her mother Elsie died when Cyl was 18, she raised her two younger sisters, Edith and Esther. And that obligation, which she willingly assumed, meant that she had to let go of her dream to earn a college degree. She fell 22 credits short. "Her sisters never forgot what she did for them, another example of selflessness for family ahead of her dreams and ambitions," said Larry.

During World War II she followed her sister Edith to Florida where her younger sibling wanted to pursue a career as a hairdresser. Cyl put her creativity, beauty and apparel-making skills to use designing and selling her own stunning bathing suits: She found customers simply by wearing them on one of the most famous beaches in the world. Pictures of her in the two-piece “pre-bikinis” posing “bathing beauty” style are treasured family heirlooms.

Cyl married Saul S. Levy in 1948, the couple moving from New York City to Long Island as "suburban pioneers" in 1955. There they raised Larry and Mara (who herself moved to Sonoma with Phil in 2006 and brought their business, the Jacob's Kitchen Culinary Outlet, to Eighth Street). Cyl and Saul were not content with the synagogues in the area and helped found one, first in the living rooms of friends and neighbors, then in rented buildings and finally a permanent building of their own. But simply sitting in the pews of Temple Judea in Valley Stream was not enough. Cyl was the founding chairwoman of the religious school at Judea Reform Temple in Valley Stream, NY, and always looked for imaginative and important ways to help the community’s children. While raising her children, she worked in her home as a sought-after dressmaker and seamstress. She also worked as a corporate bookkeeper and eventually founded a fabric store in Jamaica, Queens, before moving to Florida in 1977.

At the age of 65, after her husband Saul died, Cyl went to work at Florida International University and didn't retire until 20 years later at age 85 as manager of the Office of Student Affairs. About 150 people attended her retirement party at which, not surprisingly, she was lauded by the president of the university as a calm presence at the center of a chaotic office who "always made sure we did not forget to put the kids first."

"We will miss her very much," said Mara, who organized a well-attended 99th birthday party for Cyl in September. "I guess there is solace and even joy in knowing that so many other people will miss her too."

Cyl is survived by daughter Mara (Levy) Kahn, son Lawrence Levy, step-daughter Joyce (Levy) Ferragamo, grandchildren David Levy, Sam Levy and Christopher Ferragamo, great grand children Sophia and Dominic, son-in-law Philip Kahn and daughter-in-law Freda Wagner. A memorial service was held Tuesday, January 12, at Congregation Shir Shalom, presided over by Rabbi Steve Finley. In lieu of flowers or other tokens of respect, Cyl hoped that people would direct their generosity to Congregation Shir Shalom - Rabbi's Discretionary Fund. For online contributions, please go towww.Shir-Shalom.org.