Table of Contents
Wall of Remembrance

Hadassah Dolgoff (Chicago) – Hadassah Dolgoff, a longtime member, unexpectedly died on September 16th while recovering from a broken hip. She was 75 years old. Hadassah grew up in Brooklyn and lived in Houston and New Jersey before moving to the Chicago area. She spent many years tutoring children with learning disabilities and working on a people-in-trouble telephone hotline. A caring, feisty, and outspoken woman, she will be greatly missed. Our condolences to her husband Abe and daughter Rochelle.

Werner Klugman (Northern Westchester) – Werner Klugman, a founder of the Northern Westchester Society, died June 14th at the age of 92. In recent years he had been lost to Alzheimer's disease. Werner came to Ethical Culture in the 1930s, as a teenager, attending the Sunday evening clubs at the New York Society. In Pleasantville, in 1950, Werner and his wife Phila together with Bob and Anita Stein, and Herb and Helen Goldfrank organized an Ethical Sunday School, meeting in the local library. The fellowship grew to become the Ethical Society of Northern Westchester. After a few years, they took the bold step to buy the building that the Society still occupies today. Werner worked tirelessly to build and support the Society and other institutions that facilitated the realization of Ethical Humanist values. Throughout his life, Werner remained a stalwart of the Society, attracting members by his engaging nature and enriching the lives of all who knew him. He not only served in various capacities but was also President of the American Ethical Union. His humor, sense of adventure, and above all, unwavering love of those around him marked all that he did.

Carol Korn (Westchester and ESWoW) – Carol Korn, Ethical Society without Walls (ESWoW) member, died on September 28. She was 85. She had been a member of the Ethical Culture Society of Westchester since she was enrolled in its Sunday School at age 5, and participated in ESWoW via telephone and email for the past several years.

Barry Kurtz (Former President of the Monmouth County Ethical Fellowship) – Barry Kurtz, who served as president of the Monmouth County (NJ) Ethical Fellowship on several occasions died in late July. The Monmouth County Fellow Fellowship had a robust history during a span of twenty years in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a major spark plug of the Fellowship and was always deeply involved in sustaining the organizational and social life of the community to which he was very dedicated. Barry leaves his wife of 56 years, Debbie Kurtz, their children, Lynne, Bruce and Dayna as well as four grandchildren.

Edith Gilson Lawton (Bergen) – Edith Gilson Lawton died on August 8 at the age of 95. Edith declined over a 2-year period, following a fall and some time spent in rehab at CareOne in Teaneck, and then a nursing home in Mountaintop, PA. She developed pneumonia, probably as a result of dementia. She was not in pain at the end and passed in her sleep.

Elfriede Pergams (Chicago) – Elfriede Pergams, longtime member of the Chicago Society, wife of Heinrich Pergams and mother of Oliver Pergams, died on June 19th. She was 79 years old. Our warmest condolences to Heinrich and Oliver.

Jessie Zelnick (Philadelphia) – Jessie Zelnick, a long-time member of the Philadelphia Society, who together with her late husband Joe inspired many current pillars of the Society to join and become strongly committed, died on the morning of August 8. One of Jessie's daughters said that "Although Jessie's physical frailties of the past few years made it increasingly hard for her to get into Philadelphia; she never stopped feeling a part of the Philadelphia Ethical family or believing in the tenets of Ethical Humanism. Jessie and our father, Joe, spent countless hours…at Camp Linden…and, after he died, we planted a tree there, nourished by his ashes."