Beverly Karas, 1930-2010

My dad's cousin Beverly Karas passed away on August 22nd.  She had just celebrated her 80th birthday last month with her family.  This photo is from that day.  Today, I attended her funeral.  It was at Cedar Park Cemetery in Paramus, New Jersey.  The service was graveside, and it was raining.  The rabbi did a very nice job.  I liked the analogy he made about Beverly as he talked about a flame -- how we light a candle, and although the original flame of the match goes out, the flame of the candle lives on.  That was very interesting to think of life. Our parents eventually leave us, but the fire they made still lives on in us, and it continues to burn.  That is family.

Beverly was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Gussie (Kagan) and Julius Slotnick.  She was the middle of three sisters (Selma and Harriet, her two sisters).  My grandmother, Bertha Kagan, was their aunt, and she was so close to them.  They spoke all the time.

Beverly married Milton ("Milty") Karas and they raised three kids: Jeffrey, Mitchell and Jill.  She also had four grandchildren: Rachel, Matthew, Gayle and Mark.  I had the opportunity to meet Mitchell, his wife Sheryl and Jill and her husband Lewis, today, along with their kids.  It is sad that this was the first time I met them all.  In my experience, most extended families only come together for weddings and funerals, and the occasional Bar or Bat Mitzvah.  I wish it were more often, but everyone's lives are busy.

Cousin Judi was there too.  Judi is Selma's daughter.  Right after the service, standing in front of Jack LaPayover's headstone, she hugged Jill very tightly.  Jack was Judi's father.  You could see how sad they both were and how much love they shared for Beverly.

After the cemetery, we drove with Cousin Alan over to Jill's house in Freehold.  I enjoyed listening to Alan's stories about the "old days". He has a great memory and told me and my parents some fun stories he remembered about growing up with Beverly and the family in Brooklyn.