Obituary
Gloria Feig (née Gold), aged 96 (but as her 106 year old mother Ruth always said “age is just a number”) passed away surrounded by family on Wednesday October 2, 2024, Elul 29, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. Predeceased by her loving husband Seymour. Beloved mother of Ellen (Ricky Gray), Edward (Mary McAdam), and Evan (Michelle Guzman); cherished grandmother of Noah Gray (Kristen Holmes), Ben Feig (Monica Concors), and Samantha Feig (Campbell Youngblood); great-grandmother of Eliot Gray; Caleb and Hannah Feig.
Shiva was observed at the home of Edward Feig and Mary McAdam in New Rochelle, New York after a private family service, where Gloria was buried next to Seymour at New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, Long Island, New York. Rabbi Benjy Silverman of Chabad of the Rivertowns officiated.
Gloria lived for her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren— the family that she created with the love of her life, Seymour. To the end, she held on and persevered through her pain so she could still see her children, and pictures of her grandchildren and their children. That was how she experienced her greatest joy and nachas.
She didn’t have a great childhood herself, and endured many hardships throughout her life. But she always found the inner resources to be there for her children. She instilled in them their most important values—to love and to care and to learn. And to laugh. She was a great audience for her husband’s shtick, and she could throw some witty and clever lines herself.
Gloria loved music and art and ballet and opera — Swan Lake and La Bohème were among her favorites. She always followed world events and politics, and was passionate about social and humanitarian causes. She appreciated beauty and excellence. She loved to decorate her home, was meticulous about placing her furniture and tzatchkes “just so.” She made sure her kids (and herself) were always well dressed and their clothes pressed. When her children were growing up, she stayed up all night to put together her children’s doll houses and toys, edited and typed their term papers for school, and never missed a parent-teacher conference.
She didn’t have the opportunity to go to college after high school, but when Gloria did take a few courses after her kids were out of the house she was an A+ student and wrote some brilliant papers — of course with perfect grammar and spelling (she won the Spelling award at James Madison High School in Brooklyn). And nobody could ever beat her in Scrabble, or do the NYTimes Sunday crossword puzzle like she did -- religiously, every week, in pen.
In her later years she began to explore the meaning of life. “Why am I here?,” she would ask. She searched for meaning by taking classes at Chabad of the Rivertowns in Dobbs Ferry, New York. When she moved to Florida, she religiously attended Shabbat services at Forest Trace, lit candles, and kissed the mezuzah on her apartment entrance whenever she came home. She continued to ask existential questions. But she always knew deep down in her heart and soul the reason for her being. Her family. The one that she created. With love and with devotion.
Her children promise to carry on Gloria’s legacy and keep her alive in their hearts and minds. May she rest in peace and love, in God’s embrace. And may her memory always be for a blessing.
Arrangements by Weinstein Chapels. www.weinsteinchapels.com