Joseph and Kitty Sassoon

In 1939, a 16-year-old boy named Joseph Sassoon took a boat from his home in Rangoon, Burma to Calcutta, India. It was a trip he'd taken many times, journeying by sea to Calcutta and then continuing over land to the British boarding school high in the Himalayas that he attended with his brothers.This stopover in Calcutta was a little different, though. This time he was staying with the Ekaireb family, fellow members of the Baghdadi Jewish diaspora - and their 18-year-old daughter Kitty. She instantly enchanted him: energetic, engaging, considerate, lovely, and so slight he set her on the handlebars of his bicycle to pedal around the neighborhood with her sisters and friends, laughing together. How could she resist this handsome school boxing team champion with the quick wit and ready smile?The love between these two teenagers would last more than 80 years. Kitty Ekaireb was born February 1, 1921, in Calcutta, India, the eleventh of the twelve children of Sally and Ezra Ekaireb. Joseph Hyam Sassoon was born June 15, 1923, in Rangoon, Burma, sixth of the eight children of Seema and Aaron Sassoon.Not long after that visit in Calcutta with Kitty, Joe was at school taking his entrance exams to Cambridge University in England when the proctor announced that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. He returned home to Rangoon, only to have to flee an invading army there. By the time he was twenty years old, Joe had survived the Japanese invasion of Burma, his family's flight to Calcutta as refugees, and the Bengal famine of 1943. Amid devastation, he and Kitty were married on July 2, 1944. In 1952 Joe and Kitty emigrated to the United States with their two young children and settled in Los Angeles, where their youngest child was born. Those early years were marked by unceasing hard work, motivated by their determination that they would build again, in this country, for their own children, the good fortune that the war had taken. Joe was a manager for Met Life and Kitty a manager for Pacific Bell until they retired together in 1986. They were founding members of Kahal Joseph Congregation, and Joe served as its president several times over the years.Their long and happy retirement was largely spent doting on their steadily growing family. The freezer and refrigerator were always stocked with traditional Indo-Iraqi treats and snacks, and large and lavish meals were continually rolling out to greet whatever friends and family might drop in. Kitty was a very proficient knitter; despite never using a pattern or even writing down a plan, she turned out a stunning quantity of slippers, sweaters, scarves, and hats in all sizes and colors. She knitted perfectly-fitted, tiny doll clothes for her grandchildren and even her great-grandchildren. She shipped these items to many of her descendants who lived at a distance, along with her baked goods and the juiciest, most flavorful lemons, from the tree in her backyard. The satisfaction that they took in each other and in the family that they built was always evident; Nana and JoJo, as they were named by their first grandchild and ever after called by all that followed, were the first word in gentle, affectionate humor (JoJo) and tireless loving nurture (Nana).Joe and Kitty celebrated their 76th anniversary last July. That their two lives became one was true to the very end: they passed away within 12 hours of each other, of the Covid-19 virus that they shared like everything else they ever had. Kitty passed away on January 26, just six days before her 100th birthday. Joe followed her on January 27.They are survived by their children Hannah (Bud), Abraham (Rebecca), and Aaron (Susi); by their six grandchildren; and by twenty-four great-grandchildren. They have been adored, and are painfully missed, by all.