Annette Edith Ginsburg Chason, age 94, passed away peacefully on March 9, 2022, surrounded by her loving family and friends. She was born on December 4, 1927.
Annette grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the 1930s, the daughter of immigrants Israel Ginsburg of Russia, an itinerant peddler who became a wholesale shopkeeper in the Golden Triangle, and Gertrude (Katie) Mandel of Budapest, arriving at three months old with her Hungarian parents. (The family name is sometimes spelled Mendal). The eldest of three children (Jerome and Bernard), Annette met Harold Louis Chason at a dance while she was a nursing student at Montefiore Hospital. She was in nursing school in the Cadet Corps sponsored by the U.S. Army while he was in the University of Pittsburgh dental school, also through the U.S. Army. After assuring each other it was only a “date,” since they were seeing other people, she knew she would soon be saying “yes” when Harold traveled all the way from his oral surgery program in Washington, D.C. to Pittsburgh to see her while she was recuperating after surgery for a broken arm. Graduating from nursing school in the morning, Annette and Harold married in the afternoon, however, she had to make up the time she missed at Montefiore Hospital while her broken arm was healing. By the time she finished nursing school, the war had ended so she was fortunately not sent to serve as a nurse in the army. Annette joined Harold in Bangor, Maine, in 1948, at the age of 20 to begin the chapter of her life as Mrs. Harold Chason.
Two years later the first of three children was born. Annette and Harold raised their children Marlene, Stuart and Lori in a wonderful corner house with a big front porch, a large back yard and the best hill for sledding in all of Bangor. Many a child has memories of sledding down that hill and sitting (sometimes recuperating) on their front porch. Annette and Harold raised their children with love embedded with rules emanating from their strong convictions. They had faith that their children would succeed in their chosen paths and took pleasure in their successes. They derived their greatest pleasure (nachas) from their grandchildren, Jake, Judah, Michael, Jonathan and Mattia, upon whom the sun rose and set. They bought a house in Wilmington in 1986 in order to be walking distance to Marlene’s growing family. In 2001, Harold died after a battle with cancer, after which Annette sold the Bangor house and moved full-time to Wilmington. Over the next sixteen years, Annette was blessed with four great-grandchildren in Boston, Wilmington and Manhattan.
Annette volunteered for many groups over the course of her life. She participated in Bangor’s Beth Israel Synagogue Sisterhood, the Bangor Jewish Community Center, the Bangor Chapter of Hadassah, the Bangor Opera Guild and the University of Maine’s Academy of Life Long Learning. She and Harold volunteered in two kibbutzim in Israel while helping to support family who lived there. In Wilmington, Annette volunteered for Osher Academy, Adas Kodesch shel Emeth, as a tutor in Albert Einstein Academy as well as Lancashire Elementary School, shared her expertise in teaching needlepoint with the Adult Institute of Jewish Studies and created the Friends of Delaware Gratz Hebrew High School, for which she was a diligent and determined volunteer.
A highlight of her volunteer efforts was when she opened the next chapter in her life. Although she was a lifetime member of Bangor’s Beth Israel Synagogue, she nevertheless joined Congregation Adas Kodesch shel Emeth, and with enthusiasm and gusto originated many ideas for the benefit of Adas Kodesch. Under the umbrella of the Education Committee, she researched Broadway and Off-Broadway plays and made them available to the community while developing a relationship with a Broadway Group Ticket Agency. She arranged the trips up to a year ahead for reserved theater and bus seats, developing a first-name basis with both the ticket agents and bus drivers. This enterprise expanded over the years in her heyday to include museums, concerts and plays in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia as well as New York City. Annette gained a growing following of eager culture seekers while taking pleasure in providing bottled water and snacks for all her bus trip guests. She always donated the proceeds of her trips to nonprofit organizations.
Annette also enjoyed reading, playing bridge, winters in Florida with Harold, family cruises, and most of all, being with her family.
Annette, often known as Mum, Mannie and Nona, will be missed by her three children Marlene [Cyril] Milunsky, of Wilmington, Delaware, Stuart Chason of Brookline, Massachusetts, and Lori [Peter] Short of Swampscott, Massachusetts. Also to cherish her memory are her grandchildren Jake [Stacey Malkin] Milunsky, Judah [Meryl Tevrizian] Milunsky, Michael [Marina Dang] Short, Jonathan [Nate Romero] Short, Mattia Chason, and her four great-grandchildren, Benjamin Milunsky, Sloane Milunsky, Philip Short and Harris Milunsky. Also surviving is Annette’s sister-in-law Eleanor Chason who is predeceased by her husband Sidney Chason and sister-in-law Jackie Chason who is predeceased by her husband Sewall.
The family sends the message to her now that she is gone: “Your boundless energy, enthusiasm, creativity and optimism has been uplifting to so many people in so many ways. You are still here for us – you will always be here for us – for you have seeded us with your thoughts, which have taken root and will sprout for generations.”
Thank you to nursing staff at the Cedars Nursing Home in Portland, Maine and the Hospice of Southern Maine. Graveside funeral services, arranged by the Portland Jewish Funeral Home, will be held in Bangor on Monday, March 14, 2022 at 1:00 pm in the Beth Israel Synagogue Cemetery. Shiva and unveiling will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Alzheimer’s Association.