Lillian Mehalic Wasserman

Lillian Mehalic Wasserman of Mableton, Georgia passed away peacefully on December 17, 2023, after an illness of several months. She was receiving hospice care in the home of her youngest daughter at the time of her death. Lillian was 95 years of age, had a full life, and leaves behind four adult children, their spouses, and three grandchildren. A devoted grandmother, mother, and wife to her beloved husband Fred, Lillian is remembered for her deeply held opinions and spirited convictions, her emphasis on the value of education, and her unwavering support of her family. She was a good cook and an occasional artist, and she could talk with anyone.
Trained in medical-surgical nursing, she worked as an operating room nurse and with tuberculosis patients and other medical populations. She left nursing to raise her family, but she later became recertified as a nurse. Throughout her 44-year marriage, Lillian worked tirelessly to support her husband, Fred Wasserman, M.D. (1924-1997), a medical professor, cardiologist and internist, and Veterans Administration Chief of Medicine and V. A. Clinic Director. Dr. Wasserman operated a highly respected practice in internal medicine in Coral Gables, Florida for 18 years, before relocating to central Florida with Lillian in 1983. It was with Lillian's support that he was able to build a distinguished career in medicine. Not long after Fred's death in 1997, she relocated to Texas where she helped her youngest daughter raise her son.
Lillian was exceptionally proud of the accomplishments of her children – a physician, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, a neuropsychologist, and a social worker. All four of her children completed masters degrees or doctorates. She was especially proud of her grandson, an attorney who graduated college with Phi Beta Kappa honors.
Lillian was born in 1928 in Glen Robbins, Ohio, the youngest of three children of Anton Mehalic (1888-1965) and Josephine Pearl Bonarowski Mehalic (1900-1959). Her father was a coal-miner for the Y & O Coal Company. Her older sister was Irene Mehalic O'Hara (1920-1973) of Melrose, Massachusetts, who had four children, and her older brother was Carl Mehalic (1917-2004) of Portsmouth, Virginia, who had two children. She cherished her nieces and nephews, their families, and her small circle of friends.
Lillian is survived by her son Fred Wasserman III of Smyrna, Georgia, her daughter Frances S. Wasserman of Asheville, North Carolina, her son John D. Wasserman of Burke, Virginia, and her daughter Janet W. Stool of Mableton, Georgia. She has three grandchildren, Sara Wasserman, Alex Whitman, and Elisabeth Wasserman.
Lillian's wishes were to be cremated, with her ashes intermixed with those of her late husband, and scattered in the ocean.