Songmakers lost long time member, Lore Stone, on July 13, 2019. Michael Stone wrote the following obituary for his mother.
My Mother broke her hip a week ago from a fall, had a hip replacement then had a massive stroke afterwards. It has been a roller coaster week. She was doing ok with the recovery from the hip operation but could not survive the stroke and died last night. We did get her home the last couple of days though so she could pass in her own surroundings among her friends and family.
She was an amazing woman who, being a German Jew, barely escaped Nazi Germany with her life when she was a child. My Father died in a commercial plane crash in 1979 and she only had a high school education and no visible means of support.
She pulled herself together and, in her 50’s went to college and got a BA then an MA then a PhD then a Clinical Psychology License and started a business. She was now retired but still was vibrant and healthy and continued to inspire people at 92 years old. She volunteered at the police department, still drove her car, and did a 90 minute walk with her dog every day. She will always be a role model and an inspiration to me for taking on whatever life threw at her and turning adversity into triumph.
In my opinion, a Mother’s love for her children is the strongest force in the universe and she was the purest example of unconditional love for my sister and me that I have ever seen. I will never forget her and I already miss her enormously.
At the end, when she was having a hard time breathing and about to die, she still was not thinking of herself. She would not let herself die with my sister and I in the room because she did not want to put us through watching her pass. We had to leave the room before she would let herself go. Her last act as a Mother was to spare her children the distress of watching her go. Among her last words to me were “I just want you to be happy”.
Michael Stone