Rita Handler Was Known for Great Love of Family
Rita Handler died Saturday, March 11, surrounded by her children and
husband, who held her dearly throughout her final weeks and moments.
Born and raised in Germany, Rita visited New Jersey as a 19-year-old
in 1958, where she found a storybook romance.
While working at the Sig Buckmeir ski shop at the Essex Green
shopping center in West Orange, her future husband, Seymour, came in
looking for socks, which he found along with “fraulein fever” for the
most beautiful woman he had ever met. Although she soon returned to her
family in Germany, there ensued 600 air-mail love letters between the
two — a correspondence that melted away the distance and family
resistance to their love affair.
They eloped in 1960 and sons Chet, Roy and Glen and daughter Simone
followed in the next five years, with Shoshanna and Chelsea arriving in
1969 and 1975. Rita devotedly mothered her six children in Livingston
during the school year, and enchanted summers were spent at the family
summer home overlooking Katama Bay on Martha’s Vineyard.
Strong and independent, this quiet and penetrating lady raised and
nurtured her six children while becoming a master interior decorator,
chef, counselor and friend to all she encountered. Informal, modest and
lighthearted, she warmed hearts in Essex and Morris counties in New
Jersey and on the Vineyard through her work as a private nurse with the
Visiting Nurses Association. She was also active in the Livingston
Temple Emanuel Women’s Club and the Caldwell Latter Day Saints’ Society.
Devastated by the 1984 loss of her dear and beloved first-born son,
Chet, Rita was able eventually to rebuild her own spirit one day and one
conversation at a time, with family, friends, strangers and members of
the clergy. Her deep religious faith, soft kindness and twinkling eyes
produced an irresistible warmth that left a mark on all.
After being diagnosed with cancer in 1989, she fought it
courageously for more than 16 years, once again demonstrating her spirit
and powerful character.
She is also survived by sisters Elke and Gaby, six beloved
grandchildren and the infinite power of her own love.