Deena Landsberg

To me Deena Landsberg was/will always be Auntie D. And to Auntie D, I was always “Havidle”, or “my favorite nephew”, to which, my first knee-jerk response was always “I bet you say that to all your nephews”, which was countered with either;

a hearty laugh

a “no sonny boy”

or an embellishment on her original compliment

With this as the basis for our conversations, from as far back as I can remember - albeit, that doesn’t account for much these days, I am very warmly biased towards my lovely late Aunt.

Auntie D was bigger than life. Flamboyantly dressed, in one of her “signature” flowing black wigs, with enthusiastic passion in her voice – which provided non-stop candor, who could touch her? I always thought she should have been a chanteuse at the Village Voice, Blue Note, or Sweet Basil’s.

Of course I assume there was another side to Deena, a side that I never asked about, which was/is none of my business, but which I always wondered about, and inspired by her candor I mention it here.

Here was a woman who, along with her husband had so much passion for life, yet, at least in later years, it didn’t seem like that passion was shared – at least not publicly. This made her passion, her “joie de vive”, all the more impressive.

When I think of Deenie now, she’s up there holding court with her family and friends, and with Julie, looking down with nachas, unchained from any physical and social constraints that limited her/them and their relationship, just waiting for the next time her sons/my cousins Norman and Joel perform, or better yet - play together, looking forward to nudging the rest of their gang in the ribs grinning, “that’s my Normie, that’s my Joelie”, and sharing in this extended set for eternity.