MYRA Z. SMULYAN

Myra Zeff Smulyan,eighty one years of age, passed away peacefully at home with her loving husband Stanley Smulyan by her side Friday, March 28, 2014 in Kingston, PA. She was born on August 2, 1932 in New York City, New York to Isadore Kornzweig and Sadie Coplan (Kornzweig).
Myra grew up in the Bronx until age fourteen when her family moved to Wilkes Barre, PA. She graduated from Wyoming Seminary Day School in Kingston, PA in 1949. After high school she attended Wilkes College in Wilkes Barre, PA where she received a Bachelor’s degree. It was on the Wilkes Campus that she was spotted by her soon-to-be husband Stanley, who claimed it was love at first sight. They were married on July 26, 1953.

Myra’s started teaching in the local schools as a substitute teacher when her children were still young. Then in the mid-to-late 1970’s she became one of the first professionals to be hired by the federal Title I program to assist low-income students achieve early educational support and academic success, a job she loved but which ended under federal budget cuts in the early 1990’s.
She then went on to teach in the Wilkes-Barre City Schools, Wyoming Valley West High School and the Temple Israel Nursery School. Myra also had a “second career” as Director of the Jewish Community Center “Meals on Wheels” program for several years until she and her husband decided to retire and spend their winters in Florida.

Myra was in excellent health and as beautiful as the day they married when she and Stanley, still acting like newlyweds, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this past July 26, 2013. Myra was a member of Temple Israel in Wilkes Barre, PA, the Jewish Community Center, a lifetime member of Hadassah, and the Fox Hill Ladies Gold Association. She enjoyed theater, literature, the arts, her many dear and longtime friends, and most of all, time spent with her two children and her cherished grandchildren.

Myra was preceded in death by her loving parents, Isadore and Sadie Kornzweig of Hazelton, PA and Santa Barbara, California.
Myra is survived by her adoring and devoted spouse Stanley Smulyan of Kingston, PA; her children Deborah Smulyan of Carrboro, NC; her son David Smulyan of Milwaukee, WI (wife Betty Smulyan); her brother Dr. Neil Kornzweig of Fresno, CA (wife Sheila Kornzweig); and beloved grandchildren Stephanie, Xochi and Sam Smulyan, niece Jolie Bennett and nephew Jordan Kornzweig. Friends, family, neighbors and the community at large will remember Myra as a kind, generous, caring and intelligent individual with a big heart and a quiet but keen insight into people and the world at large.

A funeral service will be held at the Rosenberg Funeral Chapel, Inc. 348 S. River Street, Wilkes-Barre, at 2:00 pm, Sunday, March 30, 2014.

Interment will follow in Temple Israel Cemetery, Swoyersville.

Shiva will be observed at 94 Lathrop Street, Kingston, Sunday 7-9 and Monday 2-4 and 7-9pm.

Our special thanks to Dr. David Greenwald and his staff, to Commonwealth Hospice and their devoted nurses and aides, to Dr. Richard Blum, and to Ms. Mary Adu, Myra’s devoted caregiver at home.

In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial donations may be made to The Gift of Adoption. You may make your donation by phone or mail: (877) 905-2367 or mail check or money order payable to Gift of Adoption Fund, P.O. Box 567, Techny, IL 60082 or https://www.giftofadoption.org/donate/donateNow.html. Please note donation in memory of Myra Smulyan.

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