Link to Recordings and Videos:
Funeral recording - Link to Funeral Recording Password: 7F%^7C#L
Shiva recording - Link to Shiva Recording  Password: 9z&t.+.E  (to skip to the beginning of the shiva, click the ">|" forward button in the bottom left corner or simply wait 2 1/2 minutes for the shiva recording to start)
Shiva Video - https://youtu.be/rBtvAZXlZy4
Full interview of Dianne Siegel March, 2020 - https://youtu.be/ZVYYIASJVGs
Full interview of Leighton Siegel December, 2013 - https://youtu.be/L1a738ab8Uo

Eulogy:

Pam 

Hi everyone. Lesli and I are going to speak on behalf of Jeff and our families.  It's definitely been a tough few years.  It is hard to believe that we lost our dad almost exactly three years ago and here we are again mourning the loss of our mom.  We cannot thank everyone enough for the outpouring of love and support for our mom and our entire family over these last few years, and especially the last few weeks and days.

Dianne Siegel, our mom, was an incredible woman in every aspect of her life. 

She was born to Pauline and David and grew up in North Minneapolis and had two younger siblings Alan and Ellen. She came from a long line of very women and was the oldest of a female-dominated group of first cousins; she was a trailblazer and a role model for them all. 

Ever since she was a young adult she valued education, knew she wanted to be educated, and to have a career. 

She often talked about how it was a time when many women went to college to find a husband rather than preparing for a career.  She even had an aunt who warned her “no one would want to marry an over-educated woman”, but that certainly didn’t stop her.  After completing her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Minnesota, she got a Firestone scholarship that paid for her graduate degree.  She headed out to California and got her Master’s degree in Social Work at Berkeley.  

Not only was she a firm believer in education but also in being a strong advocate for oneself. I’m sure this doesn’t surprise you as you can probably all think of examples of my mom standing up for herself or for others, nobody was going to push her around and she was often able to do this without burning bridges or offending people along the way but by being confident, pragmatic and not overly emotional. 

One example that really stands out for me is when I signed up for my freshman classes during summer orientation at the University of Michigan.  I told my advisor that I was interested in math and science.  He proceeded to tell me not to take calculus because it would be too competitive with all of the pre-med and engineering students.  I came home registered for psychology and anthropology and other basic liberal arts classes.  So what did my mom do?  She marched me right back to school and I registered for Calculus. Her message to me was, be confident in my abilities, advocate for myself, pursue my interests and don’t let bias or preconceived ideas stand in my way.  

Sophia (Lesil’s daughter) is a junior in high school,  is studying U.S History in school and is learning about the free speech movement at Berkeley. Our mom told her and all of us incredible stories about her time at Berkeley in the 60s. The one that stood out to Sophia the most was her courage to participate in the civil liberties movement. Due to the risk of having her degree and scholarship revoked for taking part in the movement she used a fake name for herself as she went door to door asking people to sign up to vote. 

Our mom spent her professional life in Social Work, starting in Baltimore supporting adoptions and then over 30 years at the St. Paul Jewish Community Center.  Shortly after moving back to Minnesota, she applied for a job at the J.  Burt Garr was the Executive Director and hired her on a one-year grant.  He told her that when the money ran out, she would no longer have a job. He didn’t have to tell her twice, she got busy writing other grants and “following the money” as she liked to say.  This turned into a wonderful 30 year career there.  When I recently asked her what she was most proud of throughout her life.  Her career at the J was definitely one of them. 2 weeks ago, Burt sent her an email, reflecting on their time together.  Burt, I hope you know how much your note meant to her.  You told her she was a model of a true professional with great integrity, courage, and compassion as she helped others lead more meaningful lives.  Which she did for hundreds, if not thousands of seniors who in turn expressed their love for her and their appreciation for enabling them to live their later years with dignity and an enhanced quality of life.  She created programs and support for the community that still exist today and will continue for years to come.

Our mom was the center of the family. Many of the family holidays and gatherings were at our house growing up. When Jon and I started dating and got married, he would always say, “Wow, you have a huge family”.  I don’t think it is that our family is any larger than others, it is that my parents and especially my mom, not only knew the extended family but was close to so many of our relatives on all sides. She never differentiated between a first cousin or a fifth cousin twice removed, she was always equally inclusive of everybody.

Our mom has maintained very close relationships with both of her siblings and their children throughout their lives.  Alan and Bonnie would meet my parents regularly for dinner and would see each other often in both Minnesota and Florida. Uncle Alan called our mom every single day as long as I can remember.  And Ellen and our mom had a very unique relationship, somewhere between sisters, mother/daughter and best friends. Ellen stayed with our parents numerous times throughout her life during the good times, the difficult times, and spent the last few years, including these last few weeks by her side.  

Lesli

In the early 1980’s, our mom got interested in our extended family histories. She researched in national archives, found every contact she could and reached out to them.  She would get so excited to find somebody new that helped complete another part of the puzzle.  She created documents of all the family histories , published them into books, and ultimately on to a central website that our dad of course helped build and facilitate. She believed that you needed to know where you came from and how we all fit together because family is so important.

On top of the extended family, our mom has a huge network of friends from across her lifetime.  People have always been drawn to our mom for different reasons. She would always have a genuine interest in whatever you were talking about, and her beautiful smile and infectious laugh were an instant ice breaker.. 

Our Mom and Dad were an amazing couple, they balanced each other so well. Our Dad was often the science and numbers side while our mom was the emotional and supporting side.  While they clearly each had their own interests and passions - they shared so many wonderful things together - their love of the arts, music, friends, family and travel.  She loved to reminisce about the adventures and travel in her life - while our dad was the more natural explorer and adventurer - he found the perfect life companion in our Mom. She never would have ventured off on her own to the jungles of Papua New Guinea or rafting in Indonesia but when my Dad would suggest these things - it did not take much convincing to get her on board.  And she was always up for a spontaneous excursion. Even as recently as last summer when Jeff, his family and our Mom went to New York. Our mom was in a wheelchair during that time but that didn’t slow her down. After a full day of exploring the city, including a 5 hours play, upon returning to the hotel around midnight when Jeff asked who wanted to go get a slice of Pizza, only one person said “Me!” and that was our mom. 

She loved her friends. She had friends from all parts of her life. Just the other week she joined a zoom call with her high school friends. She has friends from Baltimore whom she remained close to to this day. My mom and dad had friends they'd play bridge with, take gourmet cooking groups with, friends they went to concerts with, traveled with, went out for meals with, and later in life friends my Mom played Canasta with. But as many lifelong friends as she had, she always had room for more. As our parents started spending winters in Florida every winter when we would visit, their social circle would seem to grow. And these weren’t just superficial friendships, she was always able to quickly develop meaningful and connected relationships with people. Sometimes we’d joke that her friendships went a bit too far because not only could you not be with her for more than 10 minutes before her phone rang, but despite what we were doing, no ringing phone could go unanswered. No matter what she was doing or where she was, she was always there for whoever called and never wanted to miss out on saying hi to her family and friends.

Our Mom’s love and appreciation for the arts, science and history made her the cultural arts director of the family. Once the grand kids started to arrive - she insisted on taking them to plays, concerts and museum’s. She had memberships for the Zoo’s, Science Museum’s, Children’s Theater and Art Museums both here and in Florida and insisted on making time to take the grandkids to expose them to these aspects of life. And as the grandkids got older, she started taking them on trips and once again, these were also rooted in arts and history. From Ellis island to broadway plays to the holocaust museum in DC she always used these opportunities to share these moments and enrich all of their lives through these profound experiences that they will have forever.

When the rabbi asked our dad in his final days if he believed in G-d, he said he didn’t know but if there was a G-d he saw G’d in birds and nature.  Over these last few weeks, all 3 of us have seen many bright red cardinals.  Some say cardinals are often seen as a symbol of a loved one coming to visit you when you most need them most, how beautiful to think that it may be a sign from our dad.  

These last few months have certainly been strange with the pandemic and “stay at home” order.  And while this prevented our mom from seeing many of her friends and family in person, many of you connected with her over FaceTime, Zoom, text or phone calls.  We read the messages, emails and texts to her even when she was no longer able and it always put a glint in her eye and smile on her face. Our mom’s eternal optimism, and instilling optimism in us kids, has allowed us to see the bright side during this time. These last couple of months and weeks provided an opportunity to spend an incredible amount of focused and personal time with her.  Time that may not have otherwise happened and that we will treasure forever.  

She was extremely grateful for the full life that she led...a wonderful husband whom she traveled the world with, a loving and close family, many meaningful friendships and a fulfilling career where she made a large impact on her community.  Our mom died as she lived. Unafraid, nothing left unsaid, her to-do list checked off, her business taken care of, and showered with love and support from friends and family.