Rhoda Goldstein

On Sunday, December 26th, 2021, Rhoda (“Roddy”) Goldstein, loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother passed away, at home, peacefully in her sleep at the age of 90. She’d lived a long, productive, and very happy life until, sadly, Alzheimer’s began to gobble all of her happy memories.

Rhoda was born in Brooklyn, NY, on June 9, 1931, to Arthur and Kate Sessler. She had an older sister, Gertrude, who died of pneumonia while Rhoda was still very young and an older brother, Leon, who she adored, and who passed away in 2009. An extraordinary student, Rhoda graduated from Madison High School, in Brooklyn, at the age of 16 and went on to graduate magna cum laude from Brooklyn College at the age of 20.

While in college, Rhoda met Arty, the love of her life, whom she married in 1952. They moved out of the city, northwest to Hillburn, NY and, in 1955, built the first of their two homes in New City where they remained until Arty died in 1995. She taught kindergarten and first grade for a couple of years while in Hillburn but after becoming pregnant with their first child, Rick, she gave up teaching and assumed the far more arduous role of mother and homemaker. Following Rick’s birth in 1956, came Tina in 1957 and Neil in 1962.

Rhoda had a passion for all things creative especially theater and music but, also, painting, sewing, designing and decorating. An active member of Elmwood Playhouse she has written, directed and scored plays as well as acted in many. She was an avid reader, crossword puzzler, and Scrabble player. She loved to travel, having visited numerous countries on four continents. She loved the outdoors: camping, horseback riding, playing tennis, swimming and skiing. She loved to cook and to raise Yorkshire Terriers. But all these paled in comparison to her love for the piano. She played, composed, and arranged music her entire life and, amazingly, even with advanced Alzheimer’s, still managed to play.

Rhoda is survived by her three children and their spouses, eight grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, two nieces, four nephews and, her pride and joy, her dog Jeter.

On behalf of the family we’d like to thank all of you that touched her life and for helping to keep her memory alive.

For those interested in making donations in Rhoda’s memory, please consider the Alzheimer’s Association at https://alz.org and United Hospice of Rockland at https://unitedhospiceinc.org/