Five Towns Obituaries

Audrey Bernstein

Audrey Brackman Bernstein, who retired as education director of Temple Sinai after 48 years, died Wednesday at the Hospice Inn in Melville after a brief Illness. She was 84.

Her funeral will be held at Riverside Memorial Chapel at 1450 Broadway, Hewlett, at 11:30 a.m., Sunday, Dec. 19.

Celia Stern, dies at 91

Cedarhurst resident Celia Stern died on Dec. 5. She was 91.

Born in Stanislavow, Poland, Stern escaped the Holocaust by immigrating to the United States in 1939 and contributed to her adopted country’s war effort as a seamstress, who sewed parachutes for U.S. troops in World War II.

Her family was the center of her life and it held a special happiness for her to be surrounded by them in her final years.

She was predeceased by her husband, Frederic Stern, and is survived by her two daughters, Sandy Soffin, and her husband Joel, of Manhattan, and Helaine Reid, and her husband David, of Ann Arbor, MI, and her five grandchildren, Jeremy and Aaron Soffin, and Benjamin, Allison and Stephanie Reid.

Funeral services were on Dec. 7 at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel in Manhattan. Donations could be made to organizations that conduct Holocaust education.

Rosa ‘Rosita’ Warshavsky, dies at 85

Rosa “Rosita” Warshavsky (nee Weinberg) of Rockleigh, NJ, and formerly of Lawrence and Palm Beach, Fla.. died on Nov. 26. She was 85.

Warshavsky will be remembered for her opera career, passion for politics and a zest for life. She was a devoted wife to Herbert, who predeceased her in 2008.

She is survived by her children Rae and Joe of Florida, her stepchildren Sharon (Scott), Alan (Lynne) of New Jersey, Bruce (Judith) of Israel and her grandchildren, Jacob, Erika, Anna, Justin, Tyler and Dylan.

Interment was at Cedar Park Cemetery in Paramus, NJ. Donations can be made to the Jewish Home Music Fund, 10 Link Drive, Rockleigh, NJ, in memory of Warshavsky.

Leonard Ditchek,dies at 87

Five Towns resident Leonard Ditchek, who grew up in Brooklyn, died Dec. 1. He was 87 years old.

Ditchek was a World War II combat veteran and attended the University of New Hampshire while in the army. He, his three brothers and father ran an auto body supplies store where Ditchek was a salesman. When he retired, the business was sold.

In January 1954, Ditchek moved to Hewlett and lived there until his death. He was apart of the local American Legion and was an avid fisherman and boatman. He also was gifted at woodworking and carpentry.

He is survived by his daughter, Rona (David), son, Howard (Susan), Steven and Teena Ditchek Korman, Sandra and Alfred Tuchman, sister, Ruth Lippman, sister-in-law, Miriam Ditchek as well as grandchildren Prana, Philip, Kemely, Scott, Brent, Sarah and Jesse.

His wife, Ruth, predeceased him.Services were held on Dec. 3 at Boulevard-Riverside Chapels in Hewlett and Shivah was held on Dec. 4-5, in Hewlett.