Rita Breslau

My memories of Rita Breslau as “Mother-in-Law”.

Of course this denotes a few chuckles for 2 reasons;

potential for mother-in-law jokes (there’ll be a few)

those of you that know Rita – her “directness” (think Kate Hepburn) make this a heady mix

To wit…

Rita was like Jackie Mason in a slip. I asked Rita (and Marty) for Carol’s hand in marriage, and Rita’s reply was, what took you so long!”

In addition to setting her up for a classic one-liner, she used this as a sort of “hazing ritual” – Marilynn and Eric each have their own special welcome to the family moments with Rita, and also – this was her frame of reference – she was engaged after 3 dates/5 days!

Which leads us to another facet that made Rita so special, her relationship with Marty. I’m sitting with Marty, 2 days before Rita passed, looking at Rita, and I said, “ You know Dad, 55+ yrs., you and Mom have had a hell of a run.”. And Marty replied, “I want another day”. In fact her last physical act, 2 days before she passed, when she could do nothing else… Marty would bend over to give her a kiss, and she would still pucker up.

And just as special as their relationship was, so was their love of family. You might have had to earn your stripes to get in the club, but once you were, you were a charter member. After carol and I became legit, Rita called me up one day and asked me if there was any nosh I’d like to have when we came out to Woodbury to do laundry and watch football games on Sunday afternoons. She caught me a little off guard and I said the first thing that popped to mind – “Yodels”.

And from that day till she could shop no more, whenever we visited, in Woodbury or Delray, there was always a box of Yodels. Boo (Blake) would go to snack on them when she visited, but Rita would tell her hands off, those are Howe’s, and regardless of how often we visited, whether it be once a week, or once every six months – she always had fresh dates!!!

Rita also was a real contributor to her community. She was the first president of Temple Hillel in Valley Stream’s Sisterhood. When she went to Delray she was an active participant in her community’s plays. She also was a hospice volunteer – which served her well during the last part of her life.

Till the end, she was just as direct as she was in other aspects f her life, she was put on hospice 2 weeks ago, and here we are today. And she never complained, never lost her sense of humor. About a week and a half before she passed, she was lying in the hospital on a Sunday, hadn’t said a word all day, and a nurse comes up to her in late afternoon and whispers,

“Rita are you comfortable?”

“I make a living.”

Till the end, anyone could tee them up, and she knocked em down.

And what I’m most thankful for that she gave to me, was her daughter. Rita’s directness, her humor, the giving of herself - if you wanted to know what makes my wife tick, all you had to do was spend some time with Rita. She’ll live on thru Carol, and thru those of us, that knew her.