Lucille Weckstein Plotz died March 13 at her home in Brooklyn. She was 90.
She, along with her husband Charles, was a summer resident of Menemsha for almost 50 years.
A lifelong and proud Brooklynite, she was born on Nov. 28, 1926 to Flo (Litwin) and Isidore Weckstein. She graduated from James Madison High School, where in 2016 she was inducted into its Wall of Distinction, and enrolled at Barnard College with the class of 1947.
When she was 18, Lucille married Dr. Charles Plotz. They had been married for 71 years when he died in November 2016. He was the love of her life and she was his.
After two years in San Antonio, where Charles had been assigned by the Army, they returned to Brooklyn where they brought up their three sons. Lucille later returned to Barnard and received a degree in botany in 1964.
Lucille used her natural instincts, intelligence and education as a scientist to achieve excellence in all she did. She was an avid gardener at her home in Menemsha, growing prize-winning tomatoes, zucchini, string beans and flowers that won hundreds of ribbons at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair. She actively volunteered at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for most of her adult life and served as president of the Garden’s Auxiliary and for many years on the Board of Trustees. She built the annual spring plant sale at the Garden into a major fundraising event and was its chair or co-chair for about 60 years. In 1977, Lucille was awarded the Garden’s Distinguished Service Medal.
She was also an enthusiastic tennis player, sailor in the races on Menemsha Pond, and fisherman who landed a world record 177-pound tarpon in the Florida Keys, following which she was invited to participate in the World Series of Fishing in Havana and met Fidel Castro. She was a gracious hostess and a world traveler, briefly living in far-flung places like Indonesia, Afghanistan and France.
She had many and varied talents. A top-notch chef and an excellent seamstress, she also could re-wire lamps, fix the plumbing, do carpentry and accomplish pretty much any household chore formerly thought of as a “man’s work.”
Above all, Lucille was admired and liked by all.
She was predeceased by her husband, Charles and her brother, Richard Weckstein. She is survived by her sons: Dick and his wife Judy, Tom and his wife Cathy Klion, and Bob and his wife Sue; her grandchildren Martha Ingols and her husband Kyle and Mike Plotz, David and Joanna Plotz, and Ben, John and Mike Plotz; and great-granddaughter Rose Ingols.
Interment will take place at noon on Friday, March 17 at Abel’s Hill Cemetery in Chilmark. Contributions in Lucille’s memory may be made to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn N.Y. 11225, bbg.org.
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