Susan, Martina, and Monica Silas mourn the death of their remarkable mother, Veronica De Matolay (née Czukor), who died this Friday morning, February 15th, 2019 at the age of 95. She was known as Panni to family and friends. Veronica was born in the city of Baja, which sits on the Danube, in the south of Hungary. She met our father, George Silas, (deceased in 1963) at the close of World War II. They survived the Holocaust in Hungary, emigrated to the United States in 1949, and built a new life.
Veronica worked briefly in real estate and later ran a small import business. She learned Spanish, was a constant reader of novels and non-fiction in English and Hungarian and she traveled extensively in Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean. She was a brilliant and avid bridge player, a Gold Life Master, attending tournaments country-wide and continued to play competitively until just last week. She had a prodigious memory, which enabled not only her bridge game but her ability to recount in detail her personal wartime history to her children.
Veronica is survived by her three daughters, her three granddaughters: Alex Klinko (and Brian Klinko), Rebecca Salko, and Jett George Silas Bachman, her three great-granddaughters: Zoey, Kelsey and Abby Klinko, her sons-in-law Dennis Kelly and Mark Salko. She will be deeply missed by her compassionate care-giver Vi Thomas.
Services will be held on Tuesday, February 19th at 1:00 pm at Gutterman Musicant Jewish Funeral Directors in Hackensack, NJ, with internment to follow at Cedar Park Cemetery, Paramus, NJ. In lieu of flowers please give to a charity of your choice.
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