Blossom Willens Levin

1920 - 2019

Blossom Willens Levin

November 24, 1920-January 28, 2019

Blossom Willens Levin died peacefully at home in San Francisco on January 28, 2019, at age 98. A native of Chicago who moved to San Francisco 11 years ago, Blossom was the beloved wife of Irving Jerome Levin, and mother of Sue Ann, Myron, Irving and Jonathan. Smart, thoughtful and outspoken, Blossom was loving but tough, and possessed of a keen intellect, a great spirit of adventure and a strong sense of social responsibility and commitment to her family, community and country.

Blossom was the daughter of George and Mollie Willens and older sister to Geraldine Sobel and Betty Baruck Rubin. A graduate of Chicago's Senn High School and a two-year program at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, Blossom completed her undergraduate education at the University of Chicago, graduating in 1941. Although her ambition was to become a museum curator, she also was determined to do her part to end the evils of fascism and anti-Semitism and was in the early group of officers in the women's branch of the U.S. Navy, known as the WAVES, rising to the rank of Lieutenant JG. After the war, she met her husband Irving. They married in 1947 and made their home in Michigan City, Indiana, a town east of Chicago on Lake Michigan.

Blossom became the designer for the family clothing business, Society Lingerie Company, headed by her husband. She was active in all manner of projects and causes supported by her synagogue, Sinai Temple, as well as in the larger community. When her children were old enough, she volunteered at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago and worked on archaeological digs in Israel and at Native American sites in the rural U.S.

After Irving died in 1978, Blossom moved to Chicago, to the Lincoln Park neighborhood near where she had grown up. She became involved in a variety of community activities while maintaining her deep connection to Michigan City. She never became a museum curator, but she did become a docent for the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Architecture Foundation, conducting tours and outreach into her 80's. She served on the board of the Chicago chapter of the American Jewish Committee and joined a weekly Torah study group at Chicago's Emanuel Congregation. She traveled to remote locales like Ethiopia, Nepal and Cuba, long before those places were easily accessible or in vogue.

In late 2007, Blossom made her way to San Francisco. She would leave her son Jonathan and his family, who lived in northern Indiana, but the winters had become too difficult. Her daughter Sue Ann lived in the Bay Area and her two other sons lived on the West Coast. It was in this last phase of her life that Blossom, who had been a single person for 30 years, found a cherished partner in Arthur Inerfield. They traveled together and were inseparable. There also was sadness and loss. Sister Gerry passed away in 2007; Jonathan, her youngest child, died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2008; Arthur died in 2017, and in 2018, Blossom lost her sister Betty and son-in-law Bob Schiff.

Blossom is survived by her children Sue Ann Schiff and Myron and Irving Levin; daughters-in-law Zoe Walrond, Stephanie Fowler and Frenda Levin; grandchildren Robert and David Schiff (Sue Ann), Zachary Rouse and Kate Molly Levin (Myron), Gabriel, Elizabeth, Joshua and Alexander Levin (Irving), and Ben and Mollie Levin (Jonathan), as well as four great grandchildren, six nieces and nephews, and numerous grand nieces and nephews.

The family wishes to thank Blossom's devoted caregivers, including Lourdes Roxas, Merlinda De Asis, Edna Cacal, Femi Eslabra, Herusalen "Baba" Lauchengco, Kidist Hailu and Teresita Jasmin, as well as Drs. Glenn Cooney, Arnaldo Moreno and Louise Walter, Rabbi Me'irah Illinsky, and the staff of Rhoda Goldman Plaza and Care for Seniors for their care and kindness.
Services will be held on Sunday, February 3, at Sinai Temple in Michigan City, with burial at the Sinai Temple Cemetery. Donations in Blossom's memory may be made to the Blossom and Irving Levin Jewish Cultural Fund of Sinai Temple, Michigan City, Indiana; American Jewish World Service, or a charity of your choosing.