Phyllis Arlene Shrager Goldstein

Phyllis Arlene Shrager Goldstein

Phyllis Arlene Shrager Goldstein died on July 21, 2020 after a long and productive life. She grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a mill town famous for its labor history and devastated during the Great Depression. Her parents, Ezra and Naomi, were Russian Jewish immigrant tailors who lived in a tenement four floors above the store. Despite their poverty, Phyllis viewed Lawrence as a good place to grow up, saying 'we didn't have much money, but we were happy'. Her parents nurtured her independence and curiosity and treasured education, sending Phyllis and her older sisters Miriam and Shirley to teacher's college.

Finishing Salem Teachers College as valedictorian when America was in the midst of World War II, Phyllis pivoted from a teaching career to studying to become an army occupational therapist, eventually assigned to Fort McClelland Alabama. There she met the love of her life, Percy Z. Goldstein, a young dentist from Brooklyn. They married following the War, and eventually moved to Nyack, New York where they, in turn, raised three daughters. Settled into the suburbs, Phyllis never rested. When her children were young, she occupied herself as a volunteer, active in the PTA, Congregation Sons of Israel, and Hadassah. As her children grew, she returned to work as substitute teacher, a full-time teacher, and a reading teacher. After several years of teaching she studied at Yeshiva University for a graduate degree as a school psychologist and worked in both the Nyack and Monticello school systems.

Phyllis and Percy never gave up caring for community. After retirement, they moved to California to join their three daughters who had moved there. Settled in Los Angeles, they were active in the University Synagogue, American-Israel Cultural Foundation, and studying Yiddish. As Phyllis grew older, her cognitive skills declined, and she and Percy moved to Belmont Village. After 65 years of marriage, Percy died in early 2012. Today, Phyllis will be joining him.

Phyllis Goldstein is survived by three children, Carol Nevitt (Paul), Mary Ann Goldstein (Dave Berry), and Barbara Goldstein (John Pastier) as well as four grandchildren - Lucy Pastier (Sean Barrett), Sam and Jacob Berry (Margo), and Naomi Nevitt (Erik Lindman), and one great grandchild Brielle Berry. The family is grateful to the caregivers at Belmont Village. Donations in Phyllis' memory may be sent to the National Yiddish Book Center, Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, or Congregation Sons of Israel, Nyack.