Elaine Estruth Lebar

Elaine was born January 19, 1928 in Manhattan and was raised in Brooklyn, NY, the younger of two daughters of Reuben Lebowitz and Mary (Gold) Lebowitz. Elaine began her musical training at age four and performed at the Times Hall in New York City when she was 18. She graduated from the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan and received a BA in music from Brooklyn College.

After World War II, Elaine married Stanley Lebar who had served in the US Army Air Corps in Okinawa, Japan. Elaine accompanied her husband to the University of Missouri, where he studied engineering and she received a master’s degree in Music Education and Pedagogy.

The couple settled in Maryland in the 1950s. Stanley worked as an engineer at Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Baltimore, MD, where he was the program manager of the team which developed the Apollo Lunar space TV camera, responsible for transmitting live television coverage from the 1969 moon-landing. Elaine ran the household, raised three children, and pursued her musical career. In addition to maintaining a busy home piano studio, where she taught private lessons and accompanied other musicians, Elaine was a music teacher and choral director in the Maryland public school system and at Anne Arundel Community College. She also performed in local concerts and composed and published piano music. In April 1964, just weeks after undergoing surgery, Elaine was the winner of the Baltimore Jewish Community Center’s second annual music competition. The Lebars were one of the four founding families of Temple Beth Shalom in Arnold, MD where Elaine was the music director. Elaine was active in music educators’ societies and was widely respected by her fellow musicians.

Elaine was predeceased by her husband Stanley in 2009. In 2018, suffering from Alzheimer’s dementia, Elaine moved into the memory care unit at Keystone Place in Buzzards Bay, MA, where she played piano regularly, entertaining the entire senior living community. In September 2020, Elaine’s daughter Randi shared videos of Elaine playing piano on TikTok to demonstrate the effects of the CoVid 19 lockdown on residents of senior living communities. On November 9, 2020, a video of Elaine playing the third movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata went viral, with over 4.5 million views in the first 12 hours. The story of Elaine’s social media fame has been featured in both local and national news media. At the time of her death, with over 600 videos on TikTok, Elaine had over 250,000 followers from all over the world. Her social-media fans were in awe of her wide-ranging repertoire, praised her musical interpretation, and loved her “wit and sass” – all of which persisted, in spite of her cognitive decline. On Elaine’s TikTok page (@orifbone) Randi promotes dementia awareness and the importance of music in dementia care. Elaine, a passionate music educator, received great satisfaction from the knowledge that she continued to educate and share her passion for music to the end of her life.

Elaine is survived by three children: Mark Lebar (wife, Sarah), Scott Lebar and Randi Lebar; five grandchildren: Joshua Lebar (wife, Lisa Philip), Julia Linsteadt (husband Nikolais), Jordan Lebar, Andrea Lebar and Caleb Shomaker; and four great-grandchildren: Emory Linsteadt, Faye Linsteadt, Ashok Lebar-Philip and Zakir Lebar-Philip.

To honor Elaine’s memory, please donate your time or talent to a dementia care community or music education program.