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Phyllis Eskin Phyllis Eskin Phyllis Eskin
In Memory of
Phyllis
Eskin (Elster)
1926 - 2017
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Obituary for Phyllis Eskin (Elster)

PHYLLIS ELSTER ESKIN: March 20, 1926 – July 1, 2017
Phyllis Elster Eskin: Wife; mother; grandmother; sister; aunt; friend; teacher; traveler; life of the party; political commentator; computer nerd; avid reader of the New York Times.

Phyllis was born in Buffalo, NY on March 20, 1926, the daughter of a grocer and the third of what would become seven siblings with an age span of more than 20 years: Carrie, Edith, Phyllis, Blanche, Marvin, Irv and Linda. Phyllis had many happy memories of her childhood and, despite the constant competition for attention from their parents, she remained close to all her siblings throughout their lives.

Phyllis earned her bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Buffalo and later a master’s degree in education at Duquesne University. Teaching was central in her life. She was a dedicated, creative and energetic teacher, first in elementary school classrooms and later as a teaching supervisor in a middle school. She was beloved by students and colleagues and was especially proud of teaching reading to those on the lower end of the economic spectrum. She officially retired from teaching at age 72 but remained a teacher at heart throughout her life. She treasured her teaching books and loved to “play school” with her grandchildren, always earning their rapt attention.

Phyllis married Harold Eskin in 1949 and together they lived in Buffalo; Wilton, Connecticut; Teaneck, NJ;
Athens, Greece; and, Pittsburgh PA. After Harold’s death, Phyllis lived in Hackensack, NJ and Andover, MA. Phyllis and Harold had two children: Rick and Judy. As a mother, Phyllis was extremely devoted to her children, although she could cross boundaries at times, to her daughter’s consternation, or be overly protective to an unappreciative son, even running out on the baseball field to make sure Ricky was OK after a soft pitch hit him on the back of his helmet. Rick married Marcie and Judy married Joel and, between them, there are five grandchildren: Harry, Joseph, Lena, Katie and Samantha.

Phyllis had great spirit, a zest for life, a touch of vanity, a thirst for knowledge, an interest in politics, and a spirit of adventure. She was the life of every party, sometimes to the embarrassment of her children. She was witty and loved a good pun. She liked to make people laugh and loved being the center-of-attention. She was proud of her view of the NYC skyline from her Hackensack apartment. She loved to travel, first with Harold and the kids around the U.S., and later with friends and as a participant in organized travel groups to China, Japan, Russia and Vietnam. She could be sensitive about her self-image, disliked having photos taken of her, and sometimes thought of herself as unattractive, but loved shopping with friends to pick out stylish clothing. While living in Greece, she devoted herself to learning the Greek language and became an expert in Greek mythology. After Harold’s death, she mastered use of the computer and became adept at financial management and investment (with help from brother Irv and others). She regularly attended the opera, symphony, ballet and theater, and took all her grandchildren to multiple Broadway shows. She had strong political views, was an unabashed liberal, was devoted to social justice in her teaching and in her private life, and would have been horrified had she ever taken to reading Twitter. She loved to read and consumed many very challenging books: from James Joyce to the Bible. But her favorite reading material was the New York Times which she read cover-to-cover every day, including Sundays. She wrote numerous letters-to-the editor but never succeeded in getting published and would be extremely happy to know that her obituary now appears on the pages of the Times.

In sum, Phyllis was a Renaissance woman and will be dearly missed by all who knew her.

Services at New Montefiore Cemetery, 1180 Wellwood Ave, West Babylon, NY on Wednesday July 5 at 1:00PM. Condolence calls may be made Wednesday following the interment at the home of Debbie Kaplan, Thursday at the Eskin-Blumstein residence in MA from 4-9PM, then at the home of Richard & Marcie Eskin in IL, Sunday & Monday from 12-9PM. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made to Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org.
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