Laura Levy

LEVY, LAURA WILLINGER, 87, passed away Friday April 15, 2016. She was born in Bronx, NY, a daughter of the late Willy (Wolf) and Blanche (Cincinnatus) Willinger. Laura received her Bachelor’s Degree from Mills College of Education and her Master’s Degree from Columbia University. She was a devoted early childhood teacher and guidance counselor in New York City. She is survived by her daughter Sandra Levy and her husband Robert Samuels; son Barry Levy; grandchildren David Levy, Aaron Samuels, and Devin Samuels; nieces and nephews. She was the sister of the late Harriet Bernstein. Graveside services will be held Monday April 18th at 2PM at Swan Point Cemetery, 585 Blackstone Blvd, Providence. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to Hope Hospice and Palliative Care, 1085 N. Main St, Providence, RI 02904 or Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, 172 Exchange St, Pawtucket, RI 02860. Shiva will be held at the home of Sandra Levy; Monday April 18th, Tuesday April 19th and Wednesday April 20th 7-9PM.

Eulogy for Laura Willinger Levy

By Sandra Levy

My mother, Laura Willinger Levy, was the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Poland. She grew up in a housing project in the Bronx, which was designated the Coops. While she lived in poverty, she said she never felt poor, because she was just like everyone else around her. Born in 1928, her childhood was marked by the great depression, and her politics were shaped by her father, Wolf/Willy Willinger; Grandpa Willy to me. He was the son a Cantor and had an outstanding tenor voice. My mother told us that people in the building would open their dumbwaiters when he sang, to hear his ethereal singing. He was accepted to the Metropolitan Opera at its inception, but couldn’t join because it did not pay enough to feed the family. Instead, he worked as a house painter and furniture mover.

While several of his brothers who had also immigrated to the United States did well financially, Grandpa Willy had read Karl Marx; he did not believe in Capitalism. He believed in Socialism and the rights of the working people. My mother told me she gleefully listened to political conversations that occurred when he held meetings at her home; she said this was much more interesting to her than the conversations she overheard by the women. Much of the talk centered on unionization of the workers, and she recalled marching with Grandpa in the May Day parade chanting “Hitler wants peace, piece by piece, a piece of this, a piece of that, a piece of everything you’ve got!”

And so it came to pass much later in life that she became a teacher and a guidance counselor for the New York City School System, which has one of the strongest unions in the country. Having lived an early adulthood of great hardship, involving the incarceration of her husband when I was merely 7 and my brother 10, she pulled us out of a life of poverty and shame by taking loans and going to college to become a teacher. I remember proudly attending her college graduation when I was 12. Throughout my teen years she studied to be a guidance counselor in a Master’s program at Columbia University at night, and moved herself up the ladder in this fashion. My mother did not think of herself as doing a task that would be quite insurmountable to others, and she did not see herself as “smart”; a scar left from early childhood by her mother who did not reflect her beauty, intelligence and strength. Mom saw herself as a survivor, who loved her children and would do anything it took to give us a good life.

And here we come to love, the motivating force of her life. The most important thing to her was to love us and for us to love her and to pass this love on to our children. She loved her nieces and nephews and cared deeply about how they were doing in their lives. More times than I can count, my mother told me the painful narrative of her early childhood with her mother, who she felt did not love or approve of her. I asked how she was so full of love herself, and how she could give this love to her family. Her answer was clear. She decided as a child that she would not act in the way she was treated; that she would counter cruelty and shaming with love and kindness. My mother devoted herself to this. And it extended beyond the family. She gave much love to the children she taught and guided and they loved her back. Mom loved her work.

While my mother was not materialistic at heart, she made sure to earn money for her family and took pride in how well she had set herself up for retirement. And while she adhered to an atheist set of beliefs to the end, she was one of the most spiritual people I know.

After retirement she moved from New York City to Rhode Island, where I lived with my husband Bob and my two small children Aaron and Devin. She was proud to say that she came to Rhode Island to watch her grandchildren grow up, “and they did!” During this period she read the New York Times cover to cover every day, and took up pastel drawing and painting. It turns out she was quite talented and never knew it. My mother also took joy from the numerous trips she went on; she traveled throughout Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Alaska, Mexico, China and Thailand, bringing small gifts for her family members from wherever she went. Her only regret with regard to traveling was that she never went to Israel. By the time she was ready to do this she had become too ill. While not religious per se, being Jewish was very important to her.

Last week before she passed, I had planned to bring her outside today, in the warm weather, so she could convene with the sunshine and smell the lively fresh air of spring. I’m deeply saddened we missed this opportunity; instead she comes outside today in a casket, and I cannot have a conversation with her or see her smile one more time. But I hope somehow that she is feeling our collective love, and that the sun will shine upon her forever. Today I honor my mother and give thanks for all of her gifts.