Hello everyone and thank you for coming here today.
It really moves me to see so many family members, friends and acquaintances who came to honour Stephie on her last journey.
This event, as you understand, is very, very difficult for me. Stephie was my whole world, and “my life” – literally. She was for me the love of my life, a friend for life, a soul mate, a beacon that outlines the way and basically an inseparable part of me.
But lest you get the impression that we were similar: not at all. It can be said that in many aspects we were completely different from each other: Stephanie was punctual, agile and super-efficient. I’m the exact opposite…she was sensitive to smells, voices and noises and I’m not so much…she liked fashion, clothes, colours and art and I less so…she always told me what to wear to work, for our trips abroad, to events, etc. And I received it with great love and appreciation…
But the love between us was very strong and connected us. We went through difficult times in our lives but we got through them with mutual support and a lot of love.
We loved very much travelling the world, discovering countries, remote peoples and tribes at the end of the world and collecting artefacts that the natives made with their own hands. And this is the time to tell that she was also a very talented photographer and in my humble opinion her photos could successfully compete with the photos in “National Geographic” and other travel magazines. She loved elephants very much: in addition to trips to nature reserves in Africa, she collected dozens of elephant figurines from around the world. And now she is accompanied by a tiny black elephant that is going to be interred together with her. She held it when she was in hospital until the last moment (and thank you Elaine).
She loved art very much: she painted, did collage works, read and watched programs about famous artists and when we were abroad, we visited exhibitions in many museums and galleries. I learned a lot about art and art history from her
We also travelled to quite challenging places, some of them literally on the edge of civilization. Some places were even without electricity and water. But we always stayed in high-class hotels and lodges. We flew in a helicopter in Australia over the Great Barrier Reef, in New Zealand we landed on a glacier, in Brazil over the Iguazu Falls and in Hawaii over volcanoes, in a seaplane in Vancouver Island Canada, in small planes in Papua New Guinea to visit remote tribes. We visited Patagonia, Easter Island, Africa, Japan, India and more. We sailed in the Amazon (Brazil), the Mekong (Laos and Vietnam), the Yangtze (China), the Zambezi (Zimbabwe) and more.
Stephanie looked delicate and fragile but when needed she was brave and cool. This is how she was in some of the trips and so it was during all the wars in Israel, starting with the Gulf War and ending with the 7/10 war. During the second intifada, she continued to travel to work by bus, and once her bus was delayed little and arrived to a station in Kfar Saba a minute or two after a terrorist carried out a suicide attack…
Even in domestic emergencies, she acted calmly and resourcefully, for example, once she put out a fire that broke out in a wardrobe in the bedroom due to a malfunctioning fan heat.
She had extensive and in-depth knowledge in various diverse fields such as art, history, music, geography, politics, cooking, culinary and more. One of our favourite things we used to do together at home was solving trivia quizzes in newspapers and on TV, especially on English TV.
Stephanie was born in England and was an only child. She had a very happy childhood with her family. She liked telling me about it on many occasions. From the long acquaintance with her family, I can confirm that they all were and still are the most amazingly warm and loving people who maintained close and almost daily contact by phone and WhatsApp until the last few days
At the age of 16, she started working at Marks and Spencer and advanced to the position of fashion buyer. She really loved her work which combined fashion, textiles, clothes and colors
In 1973, Stephanie and her friend, Sylvia, came to Israel as volunteers at Kibbutz Ma’ayan Zvi for six months. For both of them and especially for Stephanie, it was a wonderful time. After their return to England, the Yom Kippur War broke out. Consequently, both immigrated to Israel. Stephanie in 4/1975 and Sylvia a little before her. Stephanie was really a Zionist.
Stephanie started working at Israel General Bank Tel Aviv branch shortly after her arrival and that’s where we met and have never been apart since then…
After our wedding, one of us had to leave the bank due to the bank’s policy that prohibited married people from working together. As a result, she left after our wedding in 1977 and began working as a secretary at the Alexander Schneider electronics company. From there, in 1986, she moved to the attorney office of Kleinhendler Halevi. She began working there as a secretary, but over the years her role expanded. She dealt with accounts and collection from clients, and was a personal assistant to the office manager and even planned renovations in the office when necessary… In 2001, the office merged with the Gross office and became one of the largest law firms in Israel. Her abilities were also recognized there, and she advanced to the position of marketing manager and conference organizer on behalf of the firm. In addition, she managed and took part on behalf of the firm in a voluntary project of the firm’s employees in an after-school childcare facility in the City of Tel Aviv for children at risk.
Stephanie was loved by all who knew her. She knew how to connect with people who were very different from each other in character and in their areas of interest and also knew how to maintain relationships with childhood friends from the age of 11 who today live in different continents (England, USA and S. Africa) and also with friends at work.
She had a great sense of humour and bore no grudge against anyone nor had an ounce of jealousy in her. In fact, one of her friends called her a pure soul and I believe that was an accurate definition of who she was.
The last three years have been very difficult due to the terrible illness. Stephanie was amazing in the way she dealt with the disease and the severe side effects of the treatments. With courage, bravery and coolness while having a deep understanding of the disease processes and treatments and without giving up. And this is the opportunity to thank from the bottom of my heart all those who helped and supported us during our difficult times. Thank you!
So that’s it, I could stand here and talk more and more about my wonderful and amazing wife, but my strength is gone and I would like to allow other people present here to talk about Stephanie.
Farewell, my wonderful and beloved darling. I take comfort in the 47 years we were together and the fact that now you are no longer suffering and I hope we will be reunited again, and this time forever, on the other side.