Editor’s Note: The following pays tribute to the late Lenore Friedman, a life-long resident of Sheepshead Bay who was also an active member of the Bay Improvement Group (BIG).
To The Editor:
On September 25, after a long illness, Lenore Friedman passed away. She was 75, and had lived virtually her entire life in the Sheepshead Bay area.
Those privileged to have known her will remember that Lenore’s smile would light up a room, and her infectious laugh would cheer those around her. She enjoyed telling jokes, but perhaps more important, she was always an appreciative audience.
Lenore loved music, and for many years was a member of the Sweet Adelines, the women’s equivalent of the Barbershop Quartet, and performed regularly. She was also very active in the Bay Improvement Group, for which she’d done much over the years to preserve the spirit and character of Sheepshead Bay. Last year she was honored by BIG for her years of service.
A few years ago, we asked Lenore why she was so agitated about developers putting up high-risers near the Bay. She said that one of her fondest memories was getting off the subway at the Sheepshead Bay stop when the sea breeze was blowing, and smelling the salt air. She was afraid that the new buildings would block the breeze, depriving everyone of the pleasure of smelling that air.
We remember Lenore as someone who never lost her excitement about learning new things. In the past several years, her new passions included astronomy, geology, Egyptology, and a stay at an adult sleep-away camp, about which she was as excited as a little kid – because she could learn to make her own dulcimer.
When she became ill, she was still hoping to make adjustments to make it better. Since her retirement from her much-loved career as a Special Education teacher, she’d said many times that she was so busy that she had no idea how she ever managed to do anything while she was working.
More than anything else, we remember Lenore as a sweet and kind person, someone who was always willing to talk – even at two o’ clock in the morning – and as someone who always lit the proverbial candle rather than curse the darkness.
We offer our deepest condolences to her son, Harvey, a lifelong Bay resident; to her daughter and son-in-law, Debbie and Steve Youberg; to her grandchildren, Danny and Melanie; and her brother, David Grossman.
Steve Slavin, Ditmas Park;
& Donna Sommer, Yonkers
