ANNA ROTHBERG
1923 - 2022
This will have to be an unorthodox obituary, because her life was so unorthodox. Anna Rothberg was in charge all the time. As her youngest son, I
figured that she would outlast me. Fortunately, I made it to 70, and my wonderful brother, Ed, made it to 76. My father, Morris Rothberg, lived to be 92. He fought bravely in the Philippines campaign of WWII. He enlisted the day after the dreadful, surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and we were all very proud of him. Both of them knew the valve of education and hard work. Anna actually worked on the home front to support the soldiers in Boston, Massachusetts during World War II. She danced with them and even met Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman's drummer. He made a play for her, like many others, because she was a very attractive woman. She didn't go for his advances, because she said that his eyes looked funny...most likely because he was as high as a kite.
Anyway, she defied the odds, making it to 99 1/2 years... more than Queen Elizabeth!
She is survived by 2 great-great grandsons, and a nephew from Dad's side, Merrill Stickler, who is 93 years old. Her youngest nephew, Michael Sharpiro of Brookline, MA is 58 years old.
Our families have always been extremely close. She was dear friends with my dad's sister, Ruth Scott-Sisk-Pastor before my mom & dad were married at the end of WWII in 1945.
In about 1960, we moved to out first new home, in Framingham, Massachusetts, and it was totally destroyed by a gas explosion, 3 months after we moved in. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured and we all cheated death, along, with a brave construction foreman, Bobby Ingelsi (English), who was in the process of attempting to rescue me, when the explosion blew him and his coworker into the street! The force of the explosive shattered the windows of the home across the street, and caused serious mental anguish for the woman who observed all of this from her front steps. The house caught fire afterwards and it was a total loss. What we didn't lose was our lives, which was all that mattered.
After relocating to Newton, Massachusetts, we moved to New York, and then to Hollywood, CA.
Mom & Dad came to Kern County in 1975, where my dad worked as a Certified Public Accountant, for the U.S. Navy Department reserve/Elk Hills.
Anna & Morris were mall walkers at Valley Plaza, and logged over 7,000 miles each!
Her pride and joy was her granddaughter Shelby Taylor Rothberg, who she and Grandpa Rothberg helped to raise, along with us, Christina and Jerry Rothberg, her mom & dad. She dearly loved Auntie Ruthie, her daughter Morgan Hassenmeyer, and my late cousin, Jeff Scott from Norwich, Connecticut, who served in the US Navy and was a heck of a baseball player!
Finally she loved her brother, George Kleiman and many sisters along with her mother and father and generations of relatives. All of our friends and family are invited to her burial service at the beautiful Bakersfield National Cemetery, in Arvin, at 10:45 A.M. on Wednesday, December 21st, 2022. Reception to follow at Temple Beth El at 12:30 P.M.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Friends of Mercy Foundation C/O Homemaker Care Program 2634 G St Bakersfield, CA 93301