As our friend and neighbor for many,  years, your mom was a very special
person. A devoted wife, caring and
loving mother, and a very multi- talented person. She found many ways to improve herself and bring joy to
all who knew her through her acting, singing, ice skating etc. 
We miss her but she will always be in our minds and hearts as the good person she was.

Out of four caregiver's I was the last one who was assigned to take care of Ethel Halpern.I also met Mr.Marvin her husband at one point I used to pick him up from Boca Raton to West Palm Beach to visit Ethel,Mr.Marvin was dedicated and compassionate about her.When ever he was ready to leave he would always place a kiss on her cheek,Ethel would lean forward and accept it I admired that about them.Sadly Mr.Marvin passed away,but Ethel was still here with us for a year until it was her time to take her journey.To Ethel may your soul rest in peace,thinking back on those times I spent with you is a treasure I will continue to keep in my heart.This wonderful person whom I have come to know was sweet and loving,she touched so many people through out her year's Ethel was remarkable she touched families,friends,young,old and those whom she had just encountered.Goodbye is never the end,because someone like you can never be forgotten or replaced so sweet dreams Ethel.

It is said – if you make one good friend in your lifetime, you are very fortunate – I have been blessed.

Ethel & I met in the spring of 1952. We lived on the same street in the Bronx and were each pregnant with our first child. Leslie was born on August 10th and Steven on August 15th. And so our friendship grew...

We shopped together, planned our meals, talked on the phone, confided with each other and became like sisters!!

Stuart was born in August 1955 – and along came Lori in September. We were wonderful planners...until our third pregnancy. Scott was born in February 1959 – Ethel is his "god mother" – and so Jeff was born 9 months later on November 11th. Jeff even calls me his second Mom!

We watched our children grow, graduate from school and become adults. We went on cruises, vacations, and spent many summers together at Oakwood Cottages in Ellenville, NY. 

In 1959, the Halpern's and the Horvitz's bought homes next door to each other in Rockland County and a new phase of our lives began.

Ethel became a teacher. She could sing, ice skate, and golf. She acted in our local theater and she became a Co-President of National Council of Jewish Women, Rockland Section. She was thoughtful, kind, generous, unique and a best friend.

I miss my friend, but I know that she is finally at rest.

"From our hearts"

We were friends with Ethel and Marvin for close to 60 years. We will always remember the good times we enjoyed together--especially going to dinner and the concerts at Lincoln Center,some-thing we did for many,many years.
Ethel had such a sweet personality-- it was  so sad that the last few years of her life were so difficult.
Rest in peace Ethel!
Love, Gloria and Alex

It was our privilege to care for Ethel.

Sage Team, Hospice of Palm Beach County

Ethel was such an inspiration to me: teaching, ice skating, bridge, etc. We really enjoyed each other so much. Ethel had an easy laugh and I looked forward to seeing her so often. She made the teachers lunch room come alive during lunch hour. I will never forget the ice skating lessons. One night, Ethel fell. She continued to skate, in spite of the pain. Next day, she had the arm in a cast. When Ethel had trouble with the waltz jump, she actually went to a hypnotist to get help and conquer her fear. You know, of course she mastered the waltz jump. (I never did).
 Ethel was the first person I called, after deciding to get divorced. To say that she was there for me, is truly an under statement. 
We learned to enjoy our vodka gimlets together. We shared so much together. She was the one person I could always confide in. I TRUSTED Ethel implicity.
 I miss Ethel, I miss our friendship, but I do have some very special memories of our times together. For instance, one year we both decided we were grown up enough to go on a vacation together, no husbands. We went to Puerto Rico for a week during spring break. Gambling, dancing, sun bathing on the beach, etc. We even switched our hotels, and we had a great time. 
I am truly thankful for my memories. She was such a unique person. We were all blessed to have her in our live
 Lee Wayser

My memories of Ethel are filled with laughter and love.  They always involved cocktails & snacks; whether it was a day at the golf course, or at a street fair they would always end at our happy hour.
I know that now she is happy with Marvin at the happy hour.
May the love that they shared in life continue into eternity.
I will always miss you both always.
Annie

To the Family of Ethel Halpern

I couldn't just put checks in memory of Ethel in envelopes and request that NCJW and the AD Association send you a standard so sorry for your loss card. Ethel was far too special.

I am, truly, truly sorry for a loss that's been going on slowly for far too many years. My husband has AD, as did my mother. I know well what the last years must have been like for you. Or maybe I don't, because the last time I saw Ethel, at an NCJW meeting, she was well into the disease process, but being Ethel, she was vibrant, gracious, and apparently more concerned with my feelings than her own. Not what I'm used to seeing in the AD community. I introduced myself to her as a vice-president of NCJW at the same time as she was a VP.  We served on the board together for many years, fought together for using our money to help individuals rather than glean public accolades for splashier programs. I also reminded her that she taught at least one of my sons at Hempstead School. She smiled at me, with that gorgeous, gracious smile, and apologized  I know I know you, but I've forgotten who you are.

Apparently she'd forgotten who everyone was, except her friend Estelle, who had brought her to the meeting, but she smiled throughout the evening, and was gracious to everyone. Every other one of the many AD patients I've met would have been overtly anxious, surly, rude But Ethel was Ethel, and that gracious smile was ever there.

When Ethel co-taught with Bunny Manis at Hempstead, my son Jason was in Bunny's reading group. Ethel taught the more advanced readers. Both teachers recognized that, although my son was having difficulty reading, he was extremely gifted. So when Ethel taught a unit on mythology, Jason was sent to her room as a guest. As a former teacher, I'm well aware of the extra work each extra child brings with him, especially one who is having difficulty decoding. I will always be grateful to Ethel for taking on the challenge. But that's just the beginning. What I'm most grateful for is the spark she lit in him, the love of mythology, the excitement of learning. I'll never forget how enthusiastic he was about this unit, how we had to go to the library to take out more and more books of myths of every country, how he began writing his own.

I told Ethel about Jason (who is now a college bio-chem teacher with a Ph.D.+)  how much he had enjoyed her teaching and how much she had given him. She certainly didn't remember who he was, but I told her anyway, and hope that some of my gratitude seeped through.

The world has lost an extraordinary woman, and my sympathy is with your family.

Cordially,

Ellen Belitsky

We want to take this opportunity to let Les, Jeff and Lori know what a unique group of siblings you are to see to the care and comfort of your parents during these past months.

We hope you can find comfort in what you did and the time you spent with both of them.

May there be good music and plenty of dancing now that Ethel is in heaven with Marvin.

May they both spend eternity resting in Peace.

Affectionately, Carl and Lorraine

Funerals, by nature, are not a happy occasion. They mark the passing of a loved one. Many of you are here today because either you knew and loved my Mom, or because you know (and hopefully love) one of us.

As her children, each of us is an extension of my Mom in our own way. Me? I've got her heart. It's paired with my Dad's brain. So most of my life, my heart went one way and my brain the other. And as is often the case, today, the heart won out.

What I'm about to do is a little unconventional, and would probably make my father cringe. But I know in my heart it would make my mother smile  and that when all is said and done, both of them are looking down on me right now shrugging their shoulders and saying: That's Jeffrey!

Lori and Gary.  Les and Deb.  Can you please join me up here?

Our mother believed life was a celebration and every celebration deserved a toast. For Mom, that toast was usually accompanied by a vodka gimlet. So today I want to celebrate her life in a way that she would truly appreciate.

I hope you will all join us as we raise our glasses in celebration of Mom's life and say a traditional Jewish toast  L'chaim!

If you asked what she did for a living, my mother would have said she was a teacher, and so was my father.  My brother, sister and I learned from both of them; each of us learned different lessons and have different proportions of their personalities in us. Dad was more head, Mom was more heart. So while Dad was the one who taught me how to weed and edge the flower beds at our house, it was Mom who taught me to appreciate the flowers while I was doing it.

In her heart - that giant heart that beat inside that petite body - she was also an actress and a singer and a golfer and so much more. Everything she did, she put her whole heart into.  Whether it was learning to ride a bicycle, ice skating, practicing her vocal scales (we called it doing her "Nu-Nus"), learning lines for another stage production or hitting endless golf balls at the driving range she was determined to succeed. And she usually did, except perhaps when it came to getting more air under those drives.

Even the biggest Broadway hits eventually close and Mom's show has come to an end, but it had a great run.  The curtain has come down. She has taken her final bows, washed off the greasepaint, folded up the music and lyrics sheets, and left the stage for the last time.

I wish you Peace and Rest, Mom.  I know there will be stages for you to perform on, songs for you to sing, and lots of distance on those drives.

We will miss you always, and you will remain in our hearts forever.

OBITUARIO

Ethel Dora Portnoy Halpern

5 mayo, 1928 – 14 junio, 2015

IJ Morris at Star of David Cemetery of the Palm Beaches

Muestre su apoyo

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