Patricia Ann Goldstein

preceded Patty in death by two years. You will notice that there is Hebrew writing on

the marker. This is because Patty's mom converted to Judaism when in her teens and

married our father, Alvin Goldstein and was a practicing Jew. Judaism as a religion is all

about tradition. There is five thousand plus years of history that is very well

documented.

Most children of Jewish parents who are born in the United States are given both

Hebrew and English names. Patty was no exception. Although Patty did not actively

practice religion, she was a spiritual person.

Patty's Jewish name is Pessy Penina Hinda. Pessy is a Yiddish form of "Batya," which

in Hebrew means "daughter of G-d." According to tradition, Batya was the name

assumed by the daughter of Pharaoh (the one who rescued and raised Moses) after she

converted to Judaism. Pessy was also the name of a child of Patty's grandparents that

died in a fire when just a baby. It is a tradition in Judaism to honor those whose life's

were cut short by giving a later child their name.

The second name, Penina, is Biblical from Hebrew and means Coral, as in the sea

creature. This became “Pearl” in ancient Greek.

The third name, Hinda, is also Yiddish and translated means Deer. The name is often

associated with the biblical Naftali, who is compared to a swift deer in Genesis 49:21). It

is considered to be one of the prettier Yiddish names.

In the Jewish religion, only first names are used, so Patty's Hebrew name is officially:

Penina Bat (means daughter of) Abraham and Ruth, with Abraham being her fathers

Hebrew name and Ruth that of her mother.

In a few months there will be Hebrew inscription on this stone. It will have her name,

the words “beloved sister”, the Hebrew calendar birth an death dates and the phrase

"May her soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life."

Patty was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but almost immediately the family moved to

California. My father had a heart condition and was told by his doctors to seek a

warmer climate. We arrived here in San Diego in Feb. of 1961, so Patty celebrated her

first birthday here.

She was the baby of the family and we all doted on her. She became the stereotypical

California Girl, with long blond hair and a pert little upturned nose. But since she was

ten years younger than my sister Darlene and me, we did not play with her much as

siblings, but acted more like baby sitters.

So I didn't know much of her inner workings. She did not confide in me. I did take her

to the park to fly kites, we went horseback riding with our mom in Pine Valley, there

were many outings to the zoo and Balboa Park. Our dad passed away in 1969 from

complications of surgery to remove colon cancer. Patty had a strong bond with our

father, but I don't know what impact his death had on her.

At this time I graduated high school and moved out of the house. My mom remarried

and Patty left home too when she turned 18.

Many of you here can pick up her life story from this point. Patty would move to San

Luis Obispo and we did not see each other very often for many years.

During this time in SLO she contracted Hepatitus C. The virus would damage her liver

without her even being aware of it.

Fast forward to 2013. Testing revealed that Patty had liver cancer. We were told that

“her liver was shot” and she would need a liver transplant. Her long time companion,

Larry, had undergone liver transplant surgery and she was his caregiver, so she had a

good idea of what this would mean to her quality of life.

Our mom passed away in September of 2013 at the age of 91. Patty also lost a good

portion of her income as our mom had been giving her money to live on so she could

devote more time to taking care of her as well as being Larry's care provider.

At this point I became more involved with her treatments and we made several trips

together to Kaiser Sunset Hospital in Los Angeles for what is know as TACE

procedures, where they inject chemo directly into the liver. This was very effective in

killing the cancer in her liver, but unfortunately the cancer spread and that knocked her

off of the transplant list. At that point her fate was pretty much sealed, as there is

currently no treatment to fix broken livers. The liver is the filter for the body. If it does

not work properly all systems are affected.

Patty's liver began to fail after the both oral and intravenous chemotherapy was done

about three months ago. The chemo did not affect the cancer. We had genetic testing

done on the cancer cells and UCSD found two drugs that have been effective in slowing

the growth of the tumors, but we had just begun therapy when her liver decided to stop

working.

Larry, her soul mate and longtime companion, became ill during this period and after

two weeks of hospitalization his heart and kidneys failed and he passed away. I believe

the thought of going on without Larry broke her spirit, as in just seven days she was

gone. She died as much from a broken heart as from any disease. I will miss my little

Sis.

I was instructed by my Hebrew speaking friends who translated Patty's name for me to

voice the following phrase at the service: "Kol ha-Olam kulo gesher tzar m'od. V'haikar

lo l'fakhed klal." – which translated means: “The whole world is a very narrow

bridge, and the important part is not to be afraid of anything”. May Patty rest in peace.