Pauline Mayberger's life reflected many of the cataclysmic events and social attitudes of the 20 ^th century. Born Pesla-Chana in 1922 in the small town of Planch, in Poland, she moved to Warsaw with her family to await emigration to the United States. Her father, Israel Eichen, had gone ahead to escape the economic and religious hardships of life in Poland, to start a grocery business in Brooklyn. Pauline, now 6, her much beloved mother, Rose Sherman Eichen, and her two brothers, Sidney and Morton, followed, making their way across the Atlantic on the lower decks of the Mauretania. On landing in New York, Pauline feared being denied entry during her screening at Ellis Island because she was still recovering from polio, but she was much more fortunate than modern refugees, as she was reunited with her family quickly and they were allowed to enter the country. Now with the addition of her newborn sister Selma, the family made their home in Brighton Beach, along with many other refugees from Europe. As we know well, those who stayed behind suffered brutal treatment and death during the Holocaust.

Renamed by her elementary school principal, Pauline started school speaking no English, but she was a good student and, in a different world, would have attended college along with her brothers. After high school, however, she went straight to work as a legal stenographer for criminal lawyers in Brooklyn. She loved it. But the highlight of her working life came during World War II, when she went to work for the War Department, in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. With her husband Bernard Mayberger away in the army, Pauline became "Polly," until the war was over.

After the war, Pauline's story mirrored that of so many women of her generation: a happy marriage to Bernie for 53 years until his death in 1997, two children––Tina and Mardi––and the ever-increasing happiness, comforts, and preoccupations of her life as a wife, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, and great grandmother. She never lost her gift as a writer and storyteller, and almost all of our family lore comes from her recollections. She had a prodigious memory and the ability to draw a vivid image with words. This made it all the sadder to see her lose these gifts to the ravages of Alzheimer's, which eventually caused her death.

We will miss her and remember her as she once was—lively, funny, bright, fierce, loving, and loved.

Instead of flowers, you may send contributions to an organization that helps those trying to make a better life for themselves. She was a great admirer of President Obama, which she would have wanted added here.