In Memoriam Betty Lusher 92

In Memoriam Joyce Threadgill 79 Peter Trask 71 William Nelson 66 Brian Kent 64 June Borba 59 Patricia Quandahl 87 Families assisted by McKenzie Mortuary, (562) 961-9301 —Paid obituary ••• Email obituaries and pictures in the form of jpegs to laurieb@lwsb.com.

••• In Memoriam Rick Roberson 59 Clara Lee Clark 89 Gerald Lloyd 90 Stevil Meredith 71 Ira Gauden 83 David Martinez 56 Patrick Wilhelm 78 William Coggon 69 Janet Seiter 84 Kirk Shulman 71 Venita Cooper 67 Raymond Johnson 72 William Leiter 87 Families assisted by McKenzie Mortuary, (562) 961-9301 —Paid obituary

Helen E. Scott 1920-2021 Helen E. Scott, 101, passed on Aug. 4, 2021 at her home in Mutual 8. She was born in Montreal, Canada, to George and Mary Blampied on Feb. 9, 1920. She leaves behind her daughter Barbara Miltimore (Dale) of La Plama, California; son Brian (Kathy) of Orange, California; and daughter-in-law Charmaine Scott of Port Orchard, Washington. Helen was predeceased by her husband, Peter Scott, who passed at their home in LW in 1993, and her son David Scott, of Port Orchard, Washington in 2015. Helen had five grand-children, Michael, Chris, Michelle, Jonathan and Stacy; and three step-grandchildren, Matt, Erica and Stacy; along with 14 greatgrandchildren. Helen met Peter in Montreal in 1942 while in the Royal New Zealand Air Force doing advanced training before leaving for World War ll in Europe. They were married in 1946 in New Zealand.There, their three children were born, and soon after they moved to Montreal. Then in 1955, the family moved to California, settling in Lakewood, where they spent 28 years. After retiring in 1982, they built a waterfront home on the Puget Sound in Port Orchard, Washington, and lived there until their move to LW in 1991. Helen had an active life in LW for the last 28 years, she enjoyed her friends in the British Club, her church, her garden and many other interests. Helen and her late husband, Peter, loved to travel. They saw most of the world over their 46 years together. A memorial service will be held on Feb. 12, 2022, at 2 p.m. at the First Christian Church in LW, and all of her friends are invited to attend.

In Memoriam Jean Foley 64 Jerome Hanning 94 Walter Horrmann 79 Emmanuel Nzeogu 58 Michael Hoffman 61 Valda Lavonne Brandt 93 Lewis Bouldin 56 Harriett Koonce 91 Tha Keo 61 Dolores Dominguez 76 Families assisted by McKenzie Mortuary, (562) 961-9301 —Paid obituary

Margaret Humes 1954-2021 Margaret Humes was born Feb. 8, 1954, in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Willy and Constance Wessels. At the age of 1, her family moved to the Netherlands until 1959, at which time the opportunity arose to move to America. In November 1959, Willy and Connie loaded up their seven children and moved to America, eventually settling in LaPuente, California. Margaret, now 5 years old, was confident that when she arrived in America, it would be all cowboys and indians, but she was introduced to New York City. Margaret was very active and popular throughout her school years and up to the time of her passing remained very close to many of her classmates. Not long after her graduation, Margaret married and started a family. The family would grow to include four children; Levi, Blair, Christopher and Ricky. The marriage ended in divorce, and Margaret became a single mother. It was during that marriage that Margaret entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Now with a family, she was no longer comfortable living in the world and the lusts of it, and she hungered for something more real. She found peace, joy and comfort in Jesus Christ and accepted Jesus into to her life as her savior. She put complete trust in him for the rest of her life, a life which has reaped an abundance of fruit for Christ and continues to do so even after her passing. In August 1980, Margaret met Bruce, and they fell in love. They were married on May 23, 1981. This marriage would increase the number of children in the family to six, since Bruce had two of his own children, Torrie and Eric. Work would take the family to Southern Nevada. They resided for the next 22 years in Logandale, Nevada. There, Margaret remained busy being a mother and wife, but she found work doing something she truly loved: teaching preschool. She worked with preschool children for 12 years. She truly loved the work and looked forward each year to a new group of children. After retirement, and with the children pretty much grown and out of the house, Margaret and Bruce decided to move to Southern California. This decision was readily accepted by Margaret, for she really never acclimated to the summer heat. For her, it was an answer to prayer. At the time of the move she stated, “22 years here is enough.” She was very happy and excited to be moving back to Southern California to be near her mother and other family and friends. So, in August 2008, after God literally opened the door, they moved to Seal Beach and settled in the retirement community of Leisure World. Margaret quickly settled in and got involved with many of LW’s service clubs. She had a servant’s heart and took great joy in caring for and serving others. She also loved to dance and was part of several dance groups. She and Bruce found a solid Bible-teaching church and began a new phase in their life together. Margaret is survived by her husband, Bruce; her mother, Connie Wessels; her four children, Levi Gregory, and his wife Lisa; Blair Gregory; Chris Gregory and his wife, Sherilyn; Eric Humes and his wife, Elizabeth; her six siblings, Barbara Robinson, Rick Wessels, Annette Domaracki and her husband, Joe; Phillip Wessels and his wife, Debbie; Marja Stoll; Dave Wessels and his wife, Laura; 11 grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren. Margaret was preceded in death by her father, Willy, her son Ricky; her daughter Torrie; and her beloved sister-in-law Judy Wessels (Rick), who passed the same day from cancer. Think of that, they both are rejoicing in heaven. Margaret was full of love, and that love overflowed in abundance to the family and her friends. She will be missed by all who knew her. A memorial service is planned for Saturday, Oct.16, at 2 p.m. in Clunhouse 4.

Yacob Basner Yakob Basner (93), a Holocaust survivor and dedicated teacher seeking to preserve the Yiddish language, passed away peacefully on Sept. 8 with his beloved family at his side. Although he mastered English, Russian, Latvian, Hebrew and German, Yiddish was closest to his heart. It was his mission to connect new generations of Jews to their past by teaching Yiddish language and literature at the Workmen’s Circle; University of Judaism; California Institute for Jewish Culture and Languages; as well as many other community centers and teaching facilities around the world. He was the recipient of numerous accolades, including the Award of Merit from Long Beach City College and the Judge Murray I. Gurfein Memorial Award from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). He served as an advisory board member at Museum of Tolerance, where he worked as a volunteer sharing his experiences as a Holocaust survivor. He was also an active member of the Claims Conference Advisory Board of Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Long Beach and West Orange County. Born in Riga, Latvia, he attended a Hebrew elementary school and, following the Soviet Union’s occupation of Latvia in 1940, a Yiddish high school. The last celebration at the Basner family home was his bar mitzvah in December 1940. By June 1941, Germany had attacked the Soviet Union, and Riga fell under Nazi occupation within days. Yakob and his family were forced into a ghetto where his mother, sister and 7-year-old twin brother and sister, were all murdered, along with 40 other members of his extended family. Having survived two years in the Riga Ghetto, Yakob spent the remainder of World War II being transported between five different concentration camps, including Kaiserwald, Stutthoff, Buchenwald, Leitmeritz and Theresienstadt. On May 9, 1945, Yakob was liberated from Theresienstadt, where he had been suffering from epidemic typhus. After receiving medical treatment, he returned to his home in Riga in hopes of finding his father, whom Yakob believed had been successfully liberated from the Stutthoff concentration camp in the months before his own liberation. Tragically, he learned that his father was killed just one day before Stutthoff had been freed. At age 17, young Yakob was totally alone in the world. Determined to persevere and build a new life for himself, Yakob found work in the leather cutting trade and began taking linguistic classes in the evening. Several years, later he married his wife, Dora, whom he knew from early childhood, and they quickly started their own family, beginning with the births of two daughters. The Basners reached California in 1980 and found a new home in Long Beach. Both Yakob and Dora got jobs at Surfas Furriers shop in Long Beach. Yakob is predeceased by Dora and survived by his two daughters, Guta Basner and Elizabeth Karpukh and husband, Ilya; three grandchildren, Leon Fleyshman and wife Ellen, Lia Grippo and husband, James and Dan Fleyshman and his wife Casey; and four great-grandsons, Sasha and Sam Fleyshman and Rafael and Ariel Grippo. A graveside service was held on Friday, Sept. 10, at noon at Harbor Lawn-Mt. Olive Memorial Park & Mortuary. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in his memory be made to Survivor Mitzvah Project or Yiddish Farm Education Center in New Hampton, New York.