Selma Goldblatt, our “Rock for the Ages,” was born Selma Leitner in Perth Amboy, NJ on July 5, 1919. She died at the age of 100 on January 30, 2020 at Hidden Lake Care Center, Raytown, Missouri, following a short illness.
Selma lived in New Brunswick, New Jersey, for many years before moving to Highland Park, New Jersey, in 2001, and then to Kansas City, Missouri, in 2016 where her son, Larry Goldblatt and his family reside.
A graduate of Perth Amboy High School and Middlesex County College in New Jersey, Selma worked in bookkeeping throughout most of her career, and was a life member of Hadassah, Congregation Ahavas Achim and its Sisterhood (Highland Park, New Jersey) and the Central New Jersey Jewish Home for the Aged (Somerset, New Jersey). Selma was past president of the New Brunswick Senior High School PTA and McKinley School PTA; and an active member of AARP, the Highland Park Senior Center, choral groups, and the Rockettes — an elder-dance troupe. One of Selma’s proudest accomplishments, besides her family, was an opportunity to volunteer for the Israeli army in 1984 at age 65.
Her husband, Louis, died in 1973.
Selma is survived by her son, Larry, of Kansas City, Missouri; daughter, Ruth G. Nolan of Riverdale, New York, and her husband Bruce McKenna; grandson Aaron Goldblatt of Lenexa, Kansas, plus his wife Marjorie Marchin and their daughter, Phoebe Jane; and granddaughter, Leah McCormack of Kansas City, Missouri, plus her husband, Patrick McCormack, and their son Jack Bodhi.
With the assistance of Louis Memorial Chapel in Kansas City, Missouri, services and burial took place on Sunday, Feb. 2, at Shalom Cemetery in New Brunswick, New Jersey, with arrangements by the Crabiel Parkwest Funeral Chapel, New Brunswick. Rabbi Steven Miodownik of Ahavas Achim and emeritus Rabbi Ronald L. Schwarzberg officiated, with Rabbi Itche Itkin of Chabad on the Plaza participating in the eulogies.
In lieu of flowers, family suggests that donations may be made to Hadassah, Ahavas Achim, or the Highland Park New Jersey Senior Center.
Condolences may be shared at crabielparkwestfuneralchapel.com