Gladys Lerner passed away on Monday, June 25th, 2018 in Deephaven, Minnesota in the presence of family. Gladys was born Gladys Fishman on January 20, 1928 in the Bronx, New York. Her Twin brother Al nicknamed her Goldie, a name she was known to by many family and friends, and which she loved to be called because it captured her vibrancy and zest for life. As a young woman, Gladys worked in the garment district of New York City, in a payroll department. When she found and married her soulmate Bernie in 1951, she worked with him in a side accounting practice as a bookkeeper and a tax assistant. She continued to work with her son Jay in the same capacity for many years after Bernie died in 2001. Gladys raised three children as a full time mother in the same neighborhood where she lived for nearly 50 years. The family would spend their summers at a bungalow on Sylvan Lake in a cooperative called Forest Lake Country Club, near Hopewell Junction, New York. Gladys made lifelong friends there, enjoyed the beach, swimming and paddle-ball with friends, and entertaining with afternoon cocktails on their deck overlooking the serenity of the lake. Gladys was often the life of the party at dances and other gatherings of the community. Most of all, her home at Forest Lake was always open to her children’s friends, who knew her to serve good food and snacks and to have games and a silly joke or two for them. Her grandchildren came to know her the same, as did the other children of their generation of Forest Lake kids. Gladys was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 50 years, Bernard “Bernie” Lerner; her parents Nathan and Gussie (Rueben) Fishman; sister Faye Silfen; and her twin brother Al Fishman. She is survived by her three children: daughter Cheryl Winik (Allen) of Dix Hills, New York; Jay Lerner (Andrea) of White Plains, New York; and Nannette Washko (Leonard) of Minnetonka, Minnesota; six granddaughters, Cheryl’s Jessica and Jennifer, Jay’s Halle, and Nannette’s Sarah and Grace and Elizabeth; and one great-granddaughter. In her final years, Gladys continued to amuse people and make new friends with her clever wit. She continued to do many of the things she loved throughout her life – making lists and working with numbers, reading the newspaper, discussing the business and political news, and sitting in the sun by a lakeside. Most of all, she loved to hear about, speak to or visit with her granddaughters for whom she had boundless love and equally boundless advice. She will be missed dearly by family and friends, including many who have known her only since she moved to Minnesota in 2017.
Gladys Lerner passed away on Monday, June 25th, 2018 in Deephaven, Minnesota in the presence of family.
Gladys was born Gladys Fishman on January 20, 1928 in the Bronx, New York. Her Twin brother Al nicknamed her Goldie, a name she was known to by many family and friends, and which she loved to be called because it captured her vibrancy and zest for life.
As a young woman, Gladys worked in the garment district of New York City, in a payroll department. When she found and married her soulmate Bernie in 1951, she worked with him in a side accounting practice as a bookkeeper and a tax assistant. She continued to work with her son Jay in the same capacity for many years after Bernie died in 2001.
Gladys raised three children as a full time mother in the same neighborhood where she lived for nearly 50 years. The family would spend their summers at a bungalow on Sylvan Lake in a cooperative called Forest Lake Country Club, near Hopewell Junction, New York. Gladys made lifelong friends there, enjoyed the beach, swimming and paddle-ball with friends, and entertaining with afternoon cocktails on their deck overlooking the serenity of the lake. Gladys was often the life of the party at dances and other gatherings of the community.
Most of all, her home at Forest Lake was always open to her children’s friends, who knew her to serve good food and snacks and to have games and a silly joke or two for them. Her grandchildren came to know her the same, as did the other children of their generation of Forest Lake kids.
Gladys was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 50 years, Bernard “Bernie” Lerner; her parents Nathan and Gussie (Rueben) Fishman; sister Faye Silfen; and her twin brother Al Fishman. She is survived by her three children: daughter Cheryl Winik (Allen) of Dix Hills, New York; Jay Lerner (Andrea) of White Plains, New York; and Nannette Washko (Leonard) of Minnetonka, Minnesota; six granddaughters, Cheryl’s Jessica and Jennifer, Jay’s Halle, and Nannette’s Sarah and Grace and Elizabeth; and one great-granddaughter.
In her final years, Gladys continued to amuse people and make new friends with her clever wit. She continued to do many of the things she loved throughout her life – making lists and working with numbers, reading the newspaper, discussing the business and political news, and sitting in the sun by a lakeside. Most of all, she loved to hear about, speak to or visit with her granddaughters for whom she had boundless love and equally boundless advice. She will be missed dearly by family and friends, including many who have known her only since she moved to Minnesota in 2017.