Reeva Cohany

Reeva Cohany was born in Ostrow Mazowiecka, Poland, on December 20, 1922, the second daughter of Sarah and Morris List. Her mother’s family owned a business making wagon wheels, and they were highly respected; Reeva and her sister were able to go to the local public school, which was not allowed for most Jewish children.

Several months before she was born, her father emigrated to Argentina and then to the US to earn his family’s passage to the New World. In 1929, at the age of 6, Reeva, along with her mother and older sister, sailed in steerage on the SS Estonia to New York City, and met her father for the first time.

While much of her family was murdered in the Holocaust, seven aunts and uncles made it to the US, and she was part of a large extended family that found refuge in New York. The family lived first on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and later in Brooklyn. Her father worked as a presser in a coat factory, and her mother made and sold linens to their neighbors. Together they eked out a meager living. The family was joined by two more sisters. Reeva graduated from Seward Park High School and went to work as a secretary for Skinner and Sons, a textile firm based in Manhattan.

In spite of constrained circumstances, Reeva had a truly adventurous side. She worked as a Government Girl in 1942 and 1943, living in a boardinghouse in the District and working at the Pentagon. Her childhood friends marveled at her courage as the only one in their circle to leave home during the war. Mom, who was not at all one to brag, once said that one of the generals told her, “You’re the only one with any sense around here.” That quality endured throughout her life.

More adventures followed. After the war, she and a cousin quit their jobs and traveled through Europe for a summer -- Italy, France, England. They reclaimed their jobs when they returned.

While working full-time, Reeva decided it would be a good idea to advance her education and took classes on weekends at the New School for Social Research. It was there she met Harry, also an immigrant who was working on a bachelor’s degree via the GI bill. They were married in June 1951, living in small apartments in Greenwich Village and then in Stuyvesant Town. In 1955, Harry accepted a job with greater potential in Washington, DC, and they moved to an apartment on Georgia Avenue close by what was Walter Reed Army Hospital, not far from the boardinghouse that had been her wartime home.

In 1960, they moved to a house in the suburbs, in Kensington, Maryland, near Einstein High School. By this time they had 2 daughters. Reeva was a dedicated homemaker and loving mother who enjoyed cooking, baking, gardening, complex needlework, entertaining, and volunteer work. Perhaps her favorite volunteer job was with an agency that resettled Jews from the Soviet Union. Reeva matched donations of furnishings with those in need, and made sure that these new Americans had a comfortable home, a cause she related to very personally. She also was a diligent member of her Hadassah chapter.

She drove carpools to Hebrew School and music lessons, and supported and nurtured her children in many ways. Her athletic ability didn’t totally transfer to her daughters, but she valiantly instructed them in tennis, swimming and ice skating.

For several years Reeva was a dedicated student at Montgomery College in the studio arts program and expressed her originality and craftsmanship in beautiful paintings and sculpture. She also challenged herself and thrived in other classes, including geology, literature and history, in order to earn an Associate of Arts degree. She met several like-minded students there, adding them to her circle of strong women friends who were cherished by the entire family. Reeva and Harry greatly enjoyed travels to New England, the Atlantic seaboard, and Israel, and later to Canada and the western national parks.

Born to a family that made wagon wheels in a country wracked by anti-Semitism, she lived to watch videos of her great-great-nieces and -nephews on a mobile phone screen in the capital of the free world. Life was not always easy and she faced challenges along the way, including depression. But there were many happy and fruitful years, and Reeva brought much joy, grace, integrity, humor to her family and friends.

Harry passed away on December 8, 2018 after eight months in a nursing home in Bethesda, MD. Reeva joined him there in October 2018. She was quite robust and independent, taking care of herself and her living quarters, until late November 2020 when she was diagnosed with Covid-19, though with few symptoms except fatigue and weakness. She passed away on December 9, 2020.

Reeva is survived by her daughters Sharon Cohany and Janet Eackloff, sister Zelda Klein, son-in-law Glen Richardson, grandchildren David Eackloff and Miriam Eackloff, Miriam’s husband Matt Dickerson, and nieces and nephews, great-nieces and -nephews – and great-great-nieces and -nephews -- in New York, Massachusetts, California, and Israel. She was predeceased by two sisters, Bernice Kukers and Harriet Markowitz, brothers-in-law William Kukers, Laurence Klein, Nathan Markowitz, and Willi Katz, sister-in-law Pnina Katz, and son-in-law, Mark Eackloff.

Our Mom would be astonished at this tribute, as someone who avoided the spotlight, lived modestly and simply did the best she could every day. There’s no doubt, however, that she deserves the attention being paid to her beloved memory.

The family would be grateful for donations to: Congregation Har Tzeon-Agudath Achim, 1840 University Blvd. West, Silver Spring, MD 20902; Congregation Adat Reyim, 6500 Westbury Oaks Ct., Springfield, Virginia 22152; or Perry Center, Inc., 128 M Street N.W. Room 100, Washington, DC 20001. The Perry Center provides a range of social services to low-income families living near the US Capitol.