 |
Blechman's Youth
Center 3202 Washington Avenue, Newport News, VA and Newmarket Shopping Center, Newport News, VA |
|
|
| THEN: | NOW: | ||
 |
|||
| 1959 Anchor, p. 208 | |||
| 12/03/03 | |||
|
|
Blechman's Youth
Center 3202 Washington Avenue, Newport News, VA and Newmarket Shopping Center, Newport News, VA |
|
|
| THEN: | NOW: | ||
|
|
|||
| 1959 Anchor, p. 208 | |||
| 12/03/03 | |||
http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/04-21-07-NNHS-Sadye-Massell-Blechman.html
Sadye Massell Blechman |
||||
| NEWPORT
NEWS - Sadye Massell Blechman, age 104, died Thursday, April 19, 2007, at
the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington in Rockville, Md. A lifelong resident
of Hampton Roads, Mrs. Blechman was born in Norfolk on September 22, 1902,
to Fanny and Herman Massell and moved to Newport News at the age of four.
She grew up attending Newport News schools, taking piano and elocution
lessons, and helping in her father's store near 35th Street and Washington
Avenue, selling shipyard workers their work gloves for ten cents. She
attended Hood College in Frederick, Md. and Mary Washington College in
Fredericksburg, Va. and taught in the Hampton schools before marriage. She
and her husband, Ben, owned Blechman's Youth Center, a well-known children's
clothing store in its day, on Washington Avenue and 32nd Street, and later,
Newmarket Shopping Center. Mrs. Blechman's grandfather, Rev. Abraham Benson
Mirmelstein, came to the peninsula in 1893 and was instrumental in founding
Adath Jeshurun Synagogue and Jewish life in the community. Mrs. Blechman was
a lifelong member of Rodef Sholom Temple, National Council of Jewish Women,
and Hadassah which supports hospitals and medical research in Israel. During
World War II, Mrs. Blechman was active in the Red Cross Canteen Corps
serving our soldiers going overseas from Newport News. She was well-known
for her gracious home hospitality to our servicemen and their families and
NACA personnel at Langley. Wherever she lived and traveled, even the
retirement years in Florida, Newport News was always home. The first things
Mrs. Blechman did in Florida were to establish a small library in their
condo building, learn to play golf, go fishing, and join Hadassah. Her last
years were spent in the warm retirement community of Chambrel in
Williamsburg, close to her family in Newport News, and then at the Hebrew
Home of Greater Washington close to several grandchildren. Mrs. Blechman was
a devoted daughter, sister, wife, caregiver, mother, grandmother,
great-grandmother, and friend. Her greatest pleasures were her family and
friends. Her legacy is the gracious way she lived her life; her devotion to
Judaism and family continuity; her care in her own appearance and health;
her avid interest and curiosity in all that went on around her; her love of
beauty and order in her surroundings; her love of books, flowers,
butterflies, teddy bears, and chocolate; her ready smile, laughter, and
quick wit; her sense of humor; her genuine caring and kindness towards
others. She always said, 'If you don't have anything nice to say about a
person, don't say anything.' Her biggest heartaches in life were the losses
of dear ones who preceded her in death; her husband, Benjamin T. Blechman;
her brother, Irving Massell; her little great-grandson, Benjamin Shalom
Kruger; her daughter-in-law, Joan Gaye Blechman; and her dear son, Edward
Massell Blechman. She is survived and will be greatly missed by her
daughter, Sylvia Blechman Kruger; grandchildren: Larissa Faith Blechman and
Mark Steinberg (Annandale); Andrew Massell Blechman (Coral Springs, Fla.);
Rabbi Reuven and Elyse Kruger (Israel); David and Elizabeth Kruger (Silver
Spring, Md.); Mark Kruger and Karen Richman (Oak Park, Il.); Edwin and Tami
Kruger (Israel); and Martha Ann Kruger and Michael Haberman (Silver Spring,
Md.). Also, 21 great-grandchildren living both in Israel and America. In
Israel: Dalia and Ayalon, Adina, Asher, Yael, Yehudit, Hillel, Shulamit,
Netta, Zahava and Aryeh. In America: David, Limor, Shira, Naomi, Shoshana,
Joshua, Hannah Fay, Gerry, Ellie and Natan. She is remembered also by many
loving cousins, nieces and nephews, especially Margo and Stanley Drucker and
Barbara Smith; her extended family of caring Chambrel residents and staff;
faithful, devoted caretakers in Williamsburg and later the devoted staff and
caregivers at the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington; and lifelong Newport
News friends. Her Washington area grandchildren, David and Liz Kruger,
Martha Kruger and Michael Haberman, Larissa Blechman and Mark Steinberg and
their families were a loving and vital part of her end of life. Funeral
services will be held 12 Noon Sunday at Rodef Sholom Temple by Rabbi Gilah
Dror. Burial will follow in Rosenbaum Memorial Park. The family requests no
flowers. For those who wish, memorial gifts may be made to Rodef Sholom
Temple, National Council of Jewish Women, Hadassah, Hebrew Home of Greater
Washington, or the International Rett Syndrome Association. Peninsula
Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Published in the Daily Press on 4/21/2007. Guest Book |
||||
I remember fondly the clothes that my mother purchased at Blechman's for me. I also remember the saleswoman at Nachman's that set aside my accessories and would call my mother as we approached the second floor with my hats and handbags. She also sold me Feltman Bros. outfits for my sons in the late seventies.
- Barbara Brewer
('69) of VA - 04/23/07
Thank you,
Barbara
(This page was created on 12/03/03.)
Teddy Bear clip art courtesy of http://www.resourcesforbears.com/CLIPART/pix/bearb.gif - 03/23/05
