Ray Asnes

Asnes, Ray, 85, of Boca Raton, FL passed away on August 4, 2008, She was born on July 1, 1923 in a small town in Lithuania. It's been four hours since I kissed her on her forehead, told her that I loved her, and said goodbye. In those four hours I called the Neptune Society, my sister, my cousin, my aunt and a few others. That was enough people to call so that whoever needs to know of my Mom's passing, will know. It's a curious thing that some folks seem to rally when it comes to funerals. Maybe it's the cake; or being able to wear black and not worry about what people will think. About my Mom. She was a pioneer. A traveler, a good person and a loving mother. I still have the bottle of vodka that she brought me back from Iran in the 1970s. Also, the tee shirt from Katmandu. She was a collector of antiques. She had an instinct for Folk art and early Americana and brought back carloads of true "finds" during her trips to Pennsylvania with her road buddies. She sort of competed with my father, Harold, who was a "real" antique dealer with a store. He didn't like the competition because she had a better eye than he. But where she overpaid, my father didn't; that bottom line mentality can certainly be said to be a trait of a successful businessman, a moniker he would not have attributed to my mother. My sister Barbara, my mother's sister, Sylvia, and Diane, a niece who was more like a daughter to my mother; nieces, Jodie, Robin and Elise; nephews, Richard and William and their families, we're all here. And I can't forget me, Warren Benjamin, my wife, Susan and her children, Lynn, Robin and Catherine, who were grandchildren to my mother, in every way. And can't forget Griffin and Van, Lynn's boys. Those kids with the funny names who were the great-grandchildren that my mother dreamed of. There are countless other friends and relatives of my mother from Lithuania where my mother lived until she was four, to Boston, MA, where she lived for sixty or so years, to finally, Boca Raton, FL, where she always felt happy to be. Everyone who knew my Mom will remember her and in her honor, celebrate the end of the day, good or not so good, with a cocktail. We love you and miss you.