Simone M. Lipman

Simone Marguerite Weil Lipman
Chapel Hill
Mrs. Simone Marguerite Weil Lipman, 91, died Wednesday morning at Carolina Meadows.
Simone was born in France in the little Alsatian village of Ringendorf near Strasbourg. After graduating high school in 1938, Simone entered a program in early childhood education. Her studies were cut short by the start of World War II. In the wake of the German invasion, her family found refuge on an abandoned farm in the unoccupied zone in the south of France. Simone became a resident worker at a French internment camp where foreign-born Jews were being held prisoner. Her work focused on the children; distributing food, organizing activities, and helping arrange for their release and transfer to children's homes and facilities in the south of France. In many cases this involved smuggling the children out of the camp. By the spring of 1943, masquerading as a Catholic and working under an assumed name, Simone helped to rescue 350 children and place them with French families, in orphanages, in convents and in summer camps. All of her immediate family survived the war in France.
Simone left France for the United States in 1946 on a scholarship awarded by the National Council of Jewish Women to resume her education. She first studied social work at Tulane University and then continued her studies at Western Reserve University School of Social Work in Cleveland where she received her Master's degree.
In Cleveland she met her late husband Martin and began a family. In 1963 the family moved to Syracuse. Simone had a long career in both cities as a social worker helping children and their families. In Syracuse, Martin and Simone helped grow and expand Congregation Beth Shalom and were devoted and highly involved members.
At the end of Martin's career, he was relocated to Lyon, France where they enjoyed reconnecting with relatives and traveling throughout Europe. In 1986 upon returning from France, they picked Chapel Hill to retire to. Simone became actively involved in the Jewish community and was instrumental in establishing the Jewish Family Service. She did volunteer work for the Jewish Federation and other organizations. In 1994 she shared the Sara and Mutt Evans award for Outstanding Community Service with her husband. Martin and Simone joined yet another fledgling congregation, the Chapel Hill Kehilah, and Simone tirelessly devoted herself to it.
Approximately 25 years ago, as was common at that time for those who survived the war, Simone began to open up about her experiences. Over the ensuing years, she gave countless talks to school, community, and religious groups and participated in panels both locally and on a national level. Her story and artifacts are archived in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. She reconnected over the years with a number of the children that she had saved and their descendents. Her talks gained her some notoriety in the Chapel Hill area as countless children, young adults and adults became aware of her story. She never felt that her actions during the war were heroic. She simply said that "we did what we had to do".
Mrs. Lipman is survived by her sons, Peter and wife, Debbie of Providence, RI, Robert and wife, Nancy of Bethesda, MD; and five grandchildren, Abby, Rebecca, Elana, David and Amy.
In addition to her husband, Simone was preceded in death by her brother, Roger Weil of Israel.
A funeral service will be held Friday, November 11, 2011 at noon at the Howerton-Bryan Funeral Chapel, 1005 W. Main Street, Durham. Officiating will be Rabbi Jen Feldman. Burial will follow in the Kehillah Section of Markham Memorial Gardens. Shiva services will be held at 4:00 p.m. at Carolina Meadows in the Gallery at the Fairways.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Chapel Hill Kehillah, 1200 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, or to the Interfaith Council for Social Services, 110 W. Main St., Carrboro, NC 27510.