Norma K. Abbott

Norma Kaufman Abbott passed away peacefully at Rhoda Goldman Plaza in San Francisco on June 25, 2019. She was 95 years old. Norma was born on September 14, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Anna and Edward Kaufman, two immigrant first cousins from Kapulya, Belarus. Her father was a tailor who moved from New York to New Haven when Norma was very young to start a dry cleaning and alterations business in New Haven called The Pride Cleaners. He died unexpectedly when Norma was 10, and her Mother (called “Mrs. K”) had to run the business to support Norma and her younger sister Marcia. Norma studied piano from her early years and graduated from Hillhouse High School in New Haven. She attended the University of Connecticut for a short while, and was asked to be the pianist for the New Haven Symphony, but turned that down to marry Harold Abbott. She first started dating Harold when she was 14 years old. They were married for 62 years. Harold and Norma moved from New Haven to Miami in 1953, where they lived for 53 years, and where they raised their three sons. When the boys were in college, Norma also returned to school, earning a B.A. in history from the University of Miami. In addition, and while living in Miami, Norma was extremely active in Hadassah and other Jewish charities and enjoyed acting at the community playhouse that was then the Coconut Grove Playhouse. After Harold died in 2006, she moved full time to San Francisco, where her three sons had lived and, most recently, she was a resident of Rhoda Goldman Plaza.

Norma’s highest priority, first and foremost, was always her family. She instilled in her three sons a love of learning and history and the importance of being honest and trustworthy. Norma’s love of learning was kindled early on her grandmother’s farm in Hamden, Connecticut where, under an apple tree and with a basket of just picked apples near-by for munching, Norma would read the classics for hours on end. She remained interested in current events and Jewish affairs. She was also a marvelous cook and no one who had ever tried her famous lasagna or latkes will forget the experience.

Her sister Marcia and her husband Harold predeceased her, and she is survived by her three sons (Edward, Myles, and Barry), three daughters-in-law (Toshi, Ida, and Victoria), five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.