PITTSBURGH — Synagogue shooting victims Bernice and Sylvan Simon were inseparable in life, and on Thursday, friends and family bade the pair sorrowful farewell in a joint memorial service.
“As longtime and deep-rooted Pittsburgh residents, their life together began 62 years ago and forever ended last Saturday morning in the exact same chapel where they wed,” the couple’s eldest son, Mark Simon, said during services at Ralph Schugar Chapel.
“Our parents did everything together as a married couple. They were deeply in love with each other.”
The couple was among the 11 innocent worshipers cut down by an anti-Semite’s bullets inside the Tree of Life synagogue last Saturday amid the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history.
“What my mother and father witnessed and endured is utterly unspeakable,” Marc said.
The family had planned to hold a party at Sylvan and Bernice’s last Saturday, so Marc got a “surreal” reminder of how quickly the family’s lives changed when he went to his parents’ house after the shooting.
“We had plans to meet at their home on that Saturday afternoon to celebrate my sister’s birthday. Instead the following day we had to begin with the horrific reality of the situation by visiting their home to gather important papers necessary for funeral arrangements. Their home was tidy and well-stocked with food in preparation for the birthday dinner that was planned but would never occur that afternoon,” he said.
“I kept waiting for them to come up the stairs, even though I knew that would never happen. The feeling was surreal.”
The gunman accused of ending their lives expressed hatred for Jews, but no one can snuff out the family’s loving memories of Bernice, 84, and Sylvan, 86, according to son Michael.
“Without fail after speaking to my parents, we’d always say to each other, ‘I love you,’ and that’s how our conversations always ended. I love my parents so deeply and nothing or no one can ever take that away from me.”
Adult granddaughter Marissa recalled her grandfather’s booming voice, penchant for making his opinions known and about their grandmother’s famous mashed potatoes.
“Everyone that I’ve spoken to has called my zayde [grandfather] a character and I cannot agree with anything more,” she said. “Although the two most amazing people were taken from us far too soon, in the most horrible manner that I can even imagine, there are so many positive things to remember them by.”
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