Maxine Easton
Obituary - Maxine Easton peacefully passed away on November 6, 2022. Mother of Jan (Randy) Michel and Glenn (Cindy) Easton, Bubbie of Jesse (Jennifer Sherman) Michel, Lindsey Becker, Lisa (Kenny) Davis, and Amy (Zack) Steinborn, Great-Grandmother of Jace, Jackson, Addison, Easton, and Jaycee. Funeral services at Mount Sinai Memorial Park on Tuesday, November 15th at 2 pm. Shiva minyan at the home of Jan & Randy Michel (West Hills, CA) on Tuesday (11/15) & Wednesday (11/16) evenings at 7 pm and at the home of Cindy & Glenn Easton (Chevy Chase, MD) on Saturday (11/19) & Sunday (11/20) evenings at 7 pm. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the charity of your choice. She will forever be in our hearts. May her memory always be a blessing.
Eulogy for Mom by Glenn Easton
“Dear God – Please help the Dodgers win the World Series and Please let my mother hear me say I Love You.”
This was the note that I put in the Kotel, in a crack of the Holy Wall in Jerusalem on my first trip to Israel as a college senior. While I don’t really believe that God reads those little pieces of paper and answers individual prayers, remarkably, the Dodgers eventually won a World Series AND my mother became an early recipient of a new Cochlear Implant surgery and was able to hear me say I Love You.
I was able to spend a year studying in Israel ONLY because my mom would deposit a few dollars of every paycheck at a local Israeli Bank branch in Los Angeles so I could fulfill a long-time dream. That was not unusual for my mom – she sacrificed her whole life for her family - particularly her children and grandchildren (but also for her mother and grandmother).
Mom loved the title and role of Bubbie and was also Bubbie to our friends and our children’s friends. She was able to see every grandchild married. Jesse, Lindsey, Lisa, and Amy each have precious, humorous, memories and stories about Bubbie, some of which they will share at Shiva tonight. She was Mom to Cindy and Randy and was Bubbie to Jen, Ben, Kenny, and Zack – she loved them and they loved her. As I was closing out Mom’s email account last week, I found scores of emails from Bubbie to her grandchildren and vice-versa. I found one from Zack addressed to “Dear Bubbie-in-Law, Thank you for coming to our wedding….it was great meeting you” followed my several back and forth emails. There were dozens of emails to and from Lindsey, Jesse, Lisa, and Amy and when she wasn’t sending emails, she called them to say hi and that she loved them. When she wasn’t calling, she sent cards, dozens of birthday cards each year - not only to her grandchildren but to the children of just about every relative and friend she had.
The grandchildren loved to hear Bubbie’s stories and tease her. Was she really born premature, slept in a drawer, wore doll clothes, and was fed with an eye dropper? And that infamous Bubbie yell when she was surprised (WWWHHHHAAATTTTT!!) We were all blessed to celebrate special times and create special memories – Mom was “patient zero” for FOMO - she wouldn’t miss a bris, baby-naming, bar or bat mitzvah, graduation, or special occasion no matter how far away or how difficult or complicated it might be logistically with a wheelchair or an oxygen tank. (I think Jan still has PTSD from bringing mom to Amy & Zack’s wedding!). And we all cherish Bubbie’s surprise 80th birthday in Las Vegas and the last time we all got to tell Bubbie that we loved her on the 87th birthday zoom just a few weeks ago. She was thrilled to become a Great-Bubbie when Jace and Jackson were born, sadly never got to meet Addison, but loved spending time with Easton, her newest great grandson.
Mom had a difficult life, but was strong willed, and persevered despite the many challenges. Born hard of hearing with a nerve deafness, having to suddenly move across country at age 16 and leave her high school friends in Philadelphia, raising two young children and living on Food Stamps in her 20’s after our dad had his first heart-attack; becoming completely deaf in her 30’s due to a technician’s error with a new hearing aid; going back to work in her 40’s after Dad’s second heart-attack, having disabling back issues after a fall, and becoming a widow at age 53. These last few years were particularly challenging as she aged, had trouble hearing, was hospitalized with Covid, and began forgetting.
But her challenges never slowed her down. She could read lips so well (and anticipate what you were going to say) that many never knew she was deaf. (Occasionally we would go to a Dodger game and hand her the binoculars to tell us what the manager was saying at the pitcher’s mound!) She shielded me and Jan from our family financial problems and didn’t hesitate to run up her credit card bill to make sure we had what we needed and wanted. She loved music, even though she couldn’t hear it for decades, and always thought she was going to win the next Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. Mom raised us with family values, enabled us to pursue our interests and dreams, and loved us unconditionally – which we have always tried to reciprocate and emulate. She was fiercely independent, opinionated, and thinking back, probably the strongest, most determined woman I have ever known.
While we spoke on the phone almost every night until she couldn’t, being 3,000 miles away from my mom was difficult. But my sister Jan, Randy, and their family spent time with, took care of, and was ever-present with mom right up to the very end. Lindsey used to take Bubbie out to dinner every Tuesday and when Bubbie could no longer go out, she would bring dinner to her. Jan became a true caregiver just like our mom who took care of Nanny Schultz and Mom Mom Shirley as they aged. Jan, Randy, and Lindsey - you truly brought life to her years and years to her life. I am forever grateful to them.
My sister tells me that in Heaven, disabilities do not exist. I would like to think that mom is with dad, nanny and pop pop, playing cards, listening to the Paul Whiteman Band or Eddie Fisher, and living eternally bound up in the bonds of life.
Dear God, Please let the “Nationals” win another World Series, and Please let my mother know that I love her.