Our friendship of over 62 years has been one in a million.  You are missed!


The Horvitz Family

It is with great sadness that I hear of Marvin's passing. Having worked with Marvin as a colleague /mentor for the first 16 years as an educator at Elizabeth Barrett Browning  MS 115  , I have to say that he was an exemplary Principal.  Following Marvin as Principal was a great honor.
My Wife Miriam and I send our condolences to Ethal, Jeffrey and the entire family.
May we  remember Marvin in our heart  forever..

I have three memories to contribute:

1 - Marvin's kindness towards my father after mom died.  He was really very helpful and generous with his time.   

2 - My trips to high school with him.  For my first three semesters, the school was on his way to work, and he drove me to within a block of the entrance.  When he let me off, he would say "Goodbye, delinquent".
   
3 - His math help at a critical point.  I had always solved math problems in my head, and was thrown for a loop when I got to a point .in later grades where the problems got too complicated for that.  Marvin straightened me out, very patiently.

Rest in peace, uncle.

Our evenings at dinner and the concerts with Ethel and Marvin will always be remembered.
Marvin was our source for help with Yiddish vocabulary. He will certainly be missed.

 You can't get to heaven in Marvin's car
Cause Marvin's car can't go that far !!!
OAKWOOD CATTAGE CAMPERS

Having lived next door to Marvin for many years I have a lot of memories of him. One in particular is from around 45 years ago. It was the night before the first day of camp at Camp Lou Acres. Marvin was running the camp at the time and he invited me into his home at 12 Barnacle Drive to show me all the preparations for the next day. There were cards with all the bus routes, stops and times and other cards with group numbers and camper names. I was so excited for the first day of camp. Each time I would see Marvin over the next 45 years the first thought I would have would be of Camp Lou Acres!

It has been a month since we lost Marvin.  In the almost 2 years that Marvin was a daily visitor at Arden Courts, he became a respected and loved member of our Arden Courts family.  I miss seing him arrive on his daily trip to spend the day with his beloved Ethel, his reason for being. We should all hope to have such devotion shown to us when we need it the most.  Rest well Marvin, you have earned it.

I have known Marvin all my life.  I didn't realize we weren't related until
My Aunt Estelle told me!  
He could be very loving but also very tough.  When he took over the job of Head Counselor at Oakwood Cottages..I was excited not realizing what I was in for.
Every week there was a tribute to the best camper and Marvin would present them with a drum he made for them.  In all the years I was a camper I never got one!!  Finally at my wedding Marvin presented me with a drum:)
I guess he felt I had finally done something right!!  To this day when I look at that drum I think of him.  He will be greatly missed.

"MEROLA", that is how Marvin always started conversations with me. It did not matter if I was answering my home phone or the one in Pennsylvania, that was always his greeting. I will miss his rye sense of humor. I will also miss our afternoon cocktail hour which was always accompanied with a nosh, and conversation about everything going on or nothing of any importance. His love of BBQ hamburgers that had to be a specific size and the proper beef choice and he had to be the one making  the choice. I will always remember when we played golf, his persistent search of miss hit and lost balls, and his recovery of some that were not his and the delight he got out of finding so many. I'll miss our quiet times just sitting with a book or a crossword puzzle and saying nothing at all.
I will always love and miss you Marvin.
"Merola" Annie

Jeff, Lori, and Les (and family)...A day doesn't go by that I don't miss seeing your dad walk through the door here at Arden Courts.  There also aren't words to adequately express my feelings to you.  He truly was a friend who became family to me...as all of you have.  I am so thankful for the time we had together. Know you are never far from my thoughts. Love and hugs.

Marvin was a very special man to so many of us here at Arden Courts. He quickly went from being our most dedicated and loyal visitor to becoming a beloved member of our family. He is sincerely missed every single day. Marvin's love and devotion to Ethel was an inspiration and a privilege to witness. I will always smile when I think about my dear friend.

(Text of the Eulogy delivered at my father's funeral)

There are a lot of words that could be used to describe my father, depending on how you knew him.  He may have been your teacher or principal, a neighbor or a friend, a brother or an uncle,  a father-in law, a very proud grandfather, our dad, and a devoted husband.

There are also other words that could be used to describe him , some of which a few of you probably used, many of which I know I used, but since we are in a holy building I won't use them here today.

I could tell you stories about him, like how much he enjoyed the fact that I never beat him on the golf course.  Even if I was up a couple of strokes heading into the 18th hole, invariably I'd choke, or convince him I had choked.  I could tell you about how he whipped my butt on my own pool table, making three cushion bank shots and smiling one of the biggest smiles I had ever seen on him and laughing out loud, which was a real rarity.  I could tell you how I couldn't leave with my high school buddies when they came to visit until I finished digging the trenches for the irrigation system in the front yard we were working on, or how when I bought my first house in Virginia and Mom and Dad came to visit we couldn't go play golf because he said I should be staining the deck instead and he'd help me and golf could wait. 

 I could tell you lots of things about him, much of which you probably already know.  Like everyone he had his good side and his not so good side.  

But I'd rather tell you some things that you likely don't already know.  About how he hugged me on the day I got married and told me I was a mensch.  About how much joy he got from being a grandfather. About the incredible tenderness with which he would lean over and kiss my mom's forehead and say "Good Night Ettie, I love you" before he left Arden Court every night - a place he spent virtually every hour of every day of the last 22 months, because that's where he wanted to be - with his wife.  About how he was tutoring one of Mom's aides in math . About how the staff at Arden Court came to love and respect him over the last twenty two months as he transformed from a man who was angry at the hand life had dealt them both, gruff and demanding, into a man who had a kind word for almost everyone he encountered there, resident or staff, and how the staff cried as hard as we did when he passed away.

No, he wasn't always the easiest guy to get along with or have as a husband or a father or a neighbor or a friend.  Dad always did or said what he thought was the right thing to say or do in any situation.  Sometimes he was right and sometimes not, but you always knew where he stood and we always knew he wasn't the most flexible guy around.  But his intentions were always good.  The execution may have been imperfect, but his intentions were always good.

Every woman I have ever dated, from the casual ones to the woman I love and married, at one time or another told me "You are just like your father" and it wasn't generally meant as a compliment.  But as I got older, I realized it wasn't entirely a insult, either. 
 
Say what you want, when you add up all the pluses and minuses, what you get is a man who loved his children even when we disappointed him, loved his grandson deeply, was devoted to his wife,  and touched more people than I, at least, had ever imagined.  

Rest peacefully Dad.  We'll all miss you.

OBITUARY

Marvin Halpern

Born SEPTEMBER 30, 1926

IJ Morris at Star of David Cemetery of the Palm Beaches

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