Frances Weiner

Frances Friedman Weiner, of West Hartford, Connecticut, died on April 10th at age 94. She survived her husband, Solon Weiner, with whom she shared a loving and deeply committed relationship, and with whom she anchored a home layered in Jewish and social values. She grew up in an immigrant Jewish family in Hartford, daughter of the late Israel and Lena (Chorches) Friedman. She identified herself, first, by her immediate and extended family, and second, by the web of the Hartford Jewish community. She was inseparable from her identical twin sister, Dorothy Friedman Wernick, who predeceased her. A proud graduate of Weaver High School in Hartford, Class of 1943, and a student at the University of Connecticut, she started her career as a Comparison Shopper at the G. Fox & Co. Department Store in Hartford and then, together with Dottie, was the proprietor of a millinery shop on Main Street. After marriage, like many of her generation, she focused on and thrived as a wife and mother in the post-War years. She exemplified the truth that the Greatest Generation was not just great because of its menfolk. She was a member of the Emanuel Synagogue for over seven decades, and an active supporter of numerous Jewish charities. Among other things, she served for many years as Recording Secretary for the Hartford Chapter of Hadassah and campaigned tirelessly for the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford. In recognition of that work, she and Solon were the first recipients of the Jewish Federation's Bernard Waldman Campaign Award. Fran was the loving mother of Andrew Weiner and Debra Lewin Weiner of Scarsdale, NY, Howard Weiner and Patti Weber Weiner of West Hartford, and Lori Weiner Rosenthal and David Rosenthal of Oakland, CA; adored grandmother of Joshua (Rachel), Hannah (Adam), Ross (Jane), Elizabeth (Andrew), Stephanie (Jeff), Emma, and Rebecca; and the adoring great grandmother to Penelope and Sabrina Riedel, Orly and Josephine Weiner, Spencer and Lilly Weiner, and Evan Miller. Her nieces, Hope Wigmore (Mark) and Miriam Wernick, remember her as a second mother. The Weiner family is grateful to the Hoffman SummerWood Assisted Living Community and JFS Care at Home Program for the comfort and care that they provided Fran in her final months. In compliance with current exigencies, funeral services will be private, and there will be no formal Shiva. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Weiner Family Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation, 333 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford, Connecticut 06117, or to Emanuel Synagogue Endowment Fund, 160 Mohegan Drive, West Hartford, Connecticut 06117. Arrangements are entrusted to Weinstein Mortuary, Hartford, CT. For further information or to sign the guest book for Fran Weiner, please visit online at www.weinsteinmortuary.com/funerals.cfm.