Mollie Ostroff's Obituary
Mollie Ostroff, late of Carlsbad, CA, died peacefully in Oakland, California at the age of ninety-four. Throughout her long life she saw and did much, but it was always of her lifelong companionship with her husband, Arthur, and of her family that she spoke with the greatest joy.
Mollie was born Mollie Potash in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1924. Her parents, Abraham and Sylvia, had emigrated to the USA from Russia shortly before she was born, and her older sister, Bea, was born there. In Philadelphia, she attended public schools as well as Hebrew schools, and excelled scholastically in both. She did not speak English until she entered kindergarten. Yiddish was the language of the home, and she spoke it fluently, albeit reluctantly. It was at Gratz High School, where students were seated alphabetically, that she met her future husband, Arthur Ostroff, who was always seated next to her. Both Mollie and Arthur were awarded scholarships (Mollie, an academic one, Arthur, a Mayor’s scholarship) to and attended the University of Pennsylvania, and Mollie graduated in 1945. She continued her studies and gained a master’s degree in Economics there in 1946 while Arthur served in the US Army Signal Corps.
After the end of WWII, Arthur returned from service in the South Pacific (New Guinea) in 1946, and Mollie and he were married on February 25, 1946. They were rarely apart during the following sixty-eight years. Arthur completed his studies in engineering at U of P, while Mollie taught Hebrew High School in Philadelphia. She was what is now referred to as a “Judaic scholar”. They began their family while they lived in the Northeast – the mid-Atlantic states. In these years, Mollie gave birth to her three children, Barbara, Pamela, and Gary, moving a number of times between Pennsylvania, New York and California, as her husband took different jobs with electronics firms. A memorable and delightful summer was spent in the upstairs apartment unit of the Yoder home in Beach Haven, New Jersey in 1960, and following a year in central Philadelphia, in 1961 they drove across the country in a 1958 Ford Fairlane convertible (white with red interior) and moved to Woodland Hills, California where she was determined to stay put and so they did for twenty-six years. (Arthur continued to change jobs.)
When her three children were all old enough to attend school, Mollie gained her credentials and began a twenty-five year career teaching grades three, four and five in the Los Angeles City schools. Many of her students had Spanish as a first language, so Mollie learned that language, participating in several programs including living in Mexico with families for a number of weeks. She was a dedicated and gifted teacher, and throughout her life, she loved to be with children.
After retiring from teaching, Mollie and Arthur were adventurous global travelers, visiting China when Mao-suits were standard and bicycles were the primary mode of urban transportation. She proudly returned with her Mao cap and Red Party Pins, marveling that they had been to the Great Wall. They traveled to points in South America, eastern and western Europe, the middle east and all over the USA, and took cruises to Alaska and along the Argentine coast, on which they were often noted for their dancing. In 1987, Mollie and Arthur moved to Carlsbad, CA, realizing their dream of living by the beach and they were well known to local residents as the remarkably vigorous older couple who were regularly seen walking the mile or so from their house to the shore down the hill or through their neighborhood. Her grandchildren Shoshana and Josh attended college in San Diego, not far away, and Mollie was delighted by their visits, and loved to feed and chat with them (and roommates who accompanied them) as they did their piles of laundry.
Mollie always followed the news carefully, and continued to read magazines and the newspaper, do word puzzles, cryptograms and read novels into her nineties. Reading was her favorite pastime: She knew the classics as well as contemporary fiction, and among the earliest memories of her son are chats with her about books and history. She firmly believed that reading improved one’s vocabulary, diction and writing and reading more made one a better reader. Her daughters, both of whom became skilled at dress making at an early age, credit Mollie as their patient and effective teacher in sewing. Mollie was an extremely accomplished knitter and taught her daughter, Pamela, that skill as well. She taught her daughters to sew so well that she gave up sewing herself. She continued knitting for her grand-children and great-grandchildren until her late eighties. Her garments have been passed from generation to generation . She loved the beach. Living in Carlsbad, especially after Arthur was gone, allowed her still to enjoy the ocean and the sand. A favorite activity with her children was to spend a few hours on the beach in the afternoon, warm or cold, sunny or overcast. When she moved to the Bay Area in 2016, she learned to appreciate the San Francisco Bay in Alameda shore almost as well as the Pacific Ocean.
Mollie was predeceased by her husband in 2014, and is survived by her three children: Barbara, Pamela, and Gary Ostroff (Ellen Ray) of Los Angeles, Piedmont, CA and Teaneck, NJ; five grandchildren: Shoshana Bohrer (Jeremy), Joey (Sarah) and Josh Wolf, Julia and Eli Ostroff; and four great grandchildren: Madison, Jake Ethan, and Drew Bohrer, and Kennedy Clara Wolf. She was predeceased by her older sister Bea Baxter, and is survived by her younger brothers Irwin and Chester Potash who reside in Florida. She made friends among the friends of her children who saw her as wise, intelligent and remarkably astute. She was a loving presence in all their lives and will be greatly missed.
A happy celebration of her life will be held on Sunday April 28, 2019 with details to follow
What’s your fondest memory of Mollie?
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