Willie Piner, who is lovingly known to our family as Zede, was born in Poland, on April 11, 1928. He and his older sister, Olga lived in Poland and luckily escaped to Cuba right before the Holocaust. While in Cuba, Zede met his love of his life, his soul mate, his one and true only Ruchala, our Baba. Their love was something out of a fairy tale. Although Zede had known Baba as an acquaintance, they reconnected through very ironic circumstances. Baba’s entire family had all received visas to travel to the US, however, her asthma had precluded her access to America. Being left alone, she ran into Zede on the street and they fell instantly in love. They decided they would both go to America to live with her family and start a family of their own. They applied for visas, but his visa was granted before hers; so poor Zede had to leave his love behind while he waited with her family in New York.
In Brooklyn, NY, Zeda worked so hard, mostly in sweatshops, to provide for our Baba. On July 24, 1955, they welcomed their first-born baby girl Lynn. After she was born, Zede took the growing family back to Cuba where they welcomed their second baby girl, Dora, born on February 16, 1960. Thereafter, to escape yet another dictator, Zede moved the family back to New York, then finally to Miami, Florida.
With only a 5th grade education, Zede managed to re-invent himself and adapt to the changing world time and time again. From nothing, he was able to successfully start a profitable business to provide a beautiful life for his children. From our Zede’s strength, his daughters grew up into wonderful loving mothers, and instilled Zede’s values on us, his grandchildren.
We all are so thankful that we had our Zede in our life. He kept us eating healthy, well read, and most of all, to appreciate all the little things in life. After all, if its not broke don’t fix it. Zede, you were such a wonderful husband to Baba, an amazing father to Lynn and Dory, and an awe-inspring grandfather to all of us. You will be missed so much and you will on in all of our hearts forever.
Services on Thursday, July 19, 2012 at 12:30 pm in the Chapel at Lakeside Memorial Park and Funeral Home, 10301 NW 25th Street, Miami, FL 33172. 305-592-0690 will burial to follow in the Park. Rabbi Marc Labowitz officiating.
Memorials may be directed to either Diabetes Research at www.diabetesresearch.org or ALS Association at www.alsa.org
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