Lila Ziegler

Lila Brandt Ziegler

When Lila Ziegler was presented with numerical information, she would shrug and invariably say, “I was never good at math.” But she aced the ultimate statistics test by living a full life until just a few days before her 101st birthday, beating the odds of the medical predictions — as well as her own — for her longevity.

Born on the fifth night of Hanukkah, Dec. 26, 1924, Lila died peacefully 101 years later, on the second night of Hanukkah, Dec. 16, 2025. She brought light and warmth to those around her, joy with her ethereal soprano singing voice, and laughter with her humor and wit.

Lila was born to Sol and Tillie (Roth) Brandt in Manhattan and spent her childhood in Brooklyn in a full house that included her maternal grandparents, her younger sister, Rita Berger, and her younger brother, Coleman Morton Brandt. Their large extended family stretched from New York to Kansas City and included a beloved “cousins club.” Her last remaining cousin died two days before Lila.

She married Jack Kelter in 1946 and they raised three children, Shaya (Steven) Kelter, Susan (Lapid), and Stuart Kelter. Her proudest achievement was enrolling in college in her early forties, and earning her bachelor’s degree in English and her master’s degree in education, often studying at night. She went on to teach special education in the New York Public Schools for seventeen years. To the probable dismay of the NY Board of Education, she collected her retirement pension for 36 years (another mathematical unlikelihood).

In 1975 she married Joel Ziegler and they enjoyed many years making a home together, ballroom dancing, and going on Elderhostel trips, where she fed her great love of learning. They also took annual trips to Israel, where they each had children and grandchildren to visit. Several years after his death, she moved to Las Cruces to be closer to her children Susan and Stuart and their families. She volunteered at Memorial Medical Center as a “Pink Lady,” and took it upon herself to collect magazines and books for patients to read, and she was a devoted member of Temple Beth El, where she taught in the religious school, was active in Sisterhood, started a Shabbat morning minyan, and helped coordinate the Wednesday morning breakfast-and-speaker series. She married Mel Kirschner in 2002 and they were together until his passing in 2013.

Lila survived the deaths of her parents, both her siblings, her beloved daughter Susan, two husbands, and her stepson Larry Ziegler. She leaves behind her sons Shaya Kelter (Malka) and Stuart Kelter (Leora Zeitlin), son-in-law Yossi Lapid (Jill Kerr), her sister-in-law Grace Brandt, and her nine grandchildren: Ilana Glassco Lapid (Eric Glassco), Michael Kelter Mahler, Lior Lapid (Maria Figueroa), Tamar (Roey) Katz, Moriah (Ben) Galili, Talia Peiffer-Lapid (Nils Peiffer), Jacob Kelter, Amalia Zeitlin, and Shlomo (Shendy) Kelter. Also mourning her are nine great-grandchildren, four nephews and a niece, and her stepsons Ron (Ava) Ziegler, Richard (Patti) Kirschner, and Bob (Judy) Kirschner. The family thanks her devoted caregivers of the past three years, and the staff of Mesilla Valley Hospice.

Her funeral will take place on Thursday, Dec. 18 at 1:30 p.m. at Temple Beth El, followed by interment at Masonic Cemetery. Gifts in her memory can be made to Temple Beth El of Las Cruces, the AlynTempl Hospital Wheels of Love, or a charity of your choice.