Lenore Edelson

FUNERAL SERVICE: A private service will be held.
OBITUARY:
With much love, we announce that Lenore (Lee or Leba) Edelson, most recently a resident of Atlanta, GA, passed away at the age of 93 on October 15, 2025, surrounded by her family. She passed away after several years of receiving loving care at the Fountainview Center for Alzheimer's Disease. Born in Queens, NY on March 25, 1932, Leba was the middle child of Betty and Harry Levine, both immigrants from Russia. At the age of 16, Lee graduated high school and enrolled at Queens College. Two years later, she transferred to Syracuse University, where she met her partner in life Stanley Edelson. After graduating, she returned to New York City and became a buyer for the I. Magnin department store, where she was able to put her fashion sense to work. When Stan finished school a year later, they had just a few weeks to arrange a wedding as they raced against the inevitable call by the U.S. Army. For the next two years, Leba was an army wife, and they welcomed their first daughter. Following his military service, Stan went back to work in the manufacturing business started by his father. Soon after their second daughter was born, the young family moved to Amsterdam, NY to pursue opportunities for the business. In addition to being a dedicated and loving wife and mother, Leba became an active member of various community organizations and a substitute teacher in the local school system. In 1967, after the devastating loss of her parents, the family moved back to the New York area to be closer to Lee's two siblings. After their daughters left home, Leba and Stan enjoyed several years of being "snowbirds," before they moved to Boca Raton, FL. There they enjoyed their next chapter that included golf, Bridge, world travel, and visiting their two granddaughters for countless school plays, talent shows, mock trials, and sporting events.
Leba loved and excelled at crafts of all kinds: sewing, knitting, crocheting, beaded flower arrangements, and puzzles. She had great patience and focus. She was such a skilled knitter that she could buy a sweater, figure out the pattern stitch for stitch, then knit her own version before returning the original. She crocheted blankets and dozens of yarmulkes for her granddaughters' Bat Mitzvah services. And she was a master at untangling necklaces.
Leba was a joyful cheerleader. She herself did not engage in many sports but she supported Stan and her daughters in all their outdoor activities. When they went skiing, she would greet them with hot chocolate at the end of the day. If it was roller skating, Lee was there with bandaids and mercurochrome for the many scraped knees. On the lake, she would not go out on the motorboat but welcomed them back for the cookout.
Leba was a voracious reader and kept up with current news, pop culture, the arts and happenings in town and around the world. And with all that reading, it was Leba who offered ideas for activities, planned the trips, discovered the latest and greatest books (like Harry Potter!) and identified possible internships for her granddaughters. She was one of a handful who would actually read the VCR and computer instructions before using them.
Leba is survived by her husband Stan (of seventy-three years!), daughters Rochelle and Julie (Howard Kaplan), granddaughters Janna and Emily (Sean Bonar), sister-in-law Roz, and nieces, nephews and their children and grandchildren.
Alzheimer's is a terrible disease in many ways, but the worst part is the feeling that we lost Leba long before she passed away. Still, her final passing is a significant moment when we can grieve her loss and celebrate her life.
The family is immensely grateful to the staff at Fountainview Center and Georgia Hospice for their years of kindness and loving care. They are angels that made Leba's journey, and ours, so much easier.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Alzheimer's Association.