SYLVIA JEANNE KATZ
November 6, 1924 - November 13, 2021
lvia Jeanne Katz, age 97, was born on November 6, 1924 and passed away in restful sleep on November 13, 2021 with her son, Larry Saslaw at her side. For the past sixteen months she had experienced the loving care from the staff at Brighton Manor residential home and more recently from nurses and workers at Hoffmann Hospice.
Sylvia was preceded in death by her parents Louis and Sadie Adelstein and brother Melvin Adelstein of Bellingham, Washington, her first husband of 18 years, David Saslaw, who was taken at age 48 from Hodgkin lymphoma, and her second husband of 31 years, Lieutenant Colonel Morris (Morrie) James Katz, US Army retired. They resided in San Rafael, California.
She is survived by Dena Saslaw Schwartz of Brooklyn NY, Larry Saslaw of Bakersfield, CA, Martin J. Katz of Pleasanton, CA, and James Katz of Reno, NV. Sylvia's family also includes 5 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.
Sylvia worked at the Navy Pier in Seattle following High School graduation during World War II and then relocated to Oakland CA, where she met David. She was a stay-at-home mom to Dena and Larry in Castro Valley, CA. With the marriage of Morrie in 1971, she moved to San Rafael where, during their marriage, they enjoyed many years of first bowling, and then decades of playing golf throughout the country and abroad. Sylvia was a dedicated fan of the San Francisco Forty-Niners where she and Morrie would constantly cheer on the team at Candlestick Park. Sylvia moved to Bakersfield, California in 2002 following the death Morrie. She has spent the past twenty years in the company of Larry and Ann Peterson-Saslaw, who preceded her in death, and their son Joel Saslaw. She could magically turn persimmons into scrumptious cookies, had a gift for making wonderful macaroni and potato salads, delicious kugel, Matzo ball chicken soup, family dinners, and darn good apple cake with cream cheese frosting. Between her golf and swimming pool buddies, she had a love for cat (Katz) figurines, shopping at the dollar stores for those waggy solar figurines, filling a garden full of whirley-gigs, garden gnomes, and solar light chotskies, and spending many days defending the yard from those pesky weeds, she kept active and was happy to be hanging out in Bakersfield.
Sylvia was active and athletic throughout her life. Her Bellingham High School yearbook is replete with pictures of her on the badminton, archery, tennis, basketball, and swimming teams. As an adult, she earned a shelf full of bowling and golf trophies. She swung for three holes-in-one and gathered a garage full of golf gear for her and Morrie to “enjoy”. She loved lunches out with the girls and with the Temple Beth El Simcha Set. Although not a chatty conversationalist, she was jovial and enjoyed the company of others. She had a weakness for Days of Our Lives through most of her life and made going through the donation mail a continual source for giving. She always had an open lap, behind the ear scratches, and sneaky morsels of table fare for the golden retrievers and minischnauzers at Larry's house.
Funeral Services will be held at 2:00pm on Thursday, November 18, at Bayview Cemetery in Bellingham, WA, where Sylvia will be buried near her parents and Adelstein family members. Donations are encouraged to be made to American Cancer Society, Feeding America, USO, and American Jewish World Service.