Obituary of Sondra M. Lonstein
Ellenville, NY
Sondra M. Lonstein, a long-time area resident and wife of the late Albert I Lonstein, passed away on Sunday, August 2, 2020, at the Ellenville Regional Hospital. She was 83. The daughter of the late Herbert and Anne Stein Goldberg and step-daughter of the late Herman Kontner, Sondra, was born on January 9, 1937, in Brooklyn, NY.
Sondra grew up during the final years of WWII on Sackman Street in East New York. She graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, New York. Each summer, with the extended Stein & Goldberg families and a gaggle of younger Stein cousins in tow, they would spend glorious summers in Accord, New York. Blending the city life with the country comfort and simplicity of Accord, these children of the Greatest Generation spent an idyllic, American Dream childhood. At eighteen years old, from her Accord home, she was set up on a blind date with a young attorney and the love of her life, Albert. She met him at his small apartment in Ellenville on Nevele Road- her in a prim and proper dress, and he in his underwear. It was a perfectly imperfect union that led to adventure after adventure, ups, downs, tears, and laughs. She never batted an eye when Albert became paralyzed in 1968 and stood by his side through months in an NYC Hospital while commuting back and forth to Ellenville for her young children. Albert adored her and would tell her how proud and lucky he was to have a wife with an AAD degree (Also A Doctor). They went through life together, going to every football, baseball, lacrosse game, singing and acting lessons with the girls, and a healthy flock of pets, food, and love. She and Albert were always busy with various activities. Some included building what is now known as the Albert I Lonstein, Little League Complex in Ellenville. She was active in the Ellenville B'nai Brit, Ellenville Hospital Auxiliary, ran for Ellenville Village Trustee. Sondra loved to cook breakfasts for the Ellenville Football Team, and never said no to having less fortunate children stay in her home and helping to raise them. Many today are successful in so many ways, and she touched all of their lives.
Even after falling ill in the last year of her life, she battled through with the assistance of her family and many kind medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and therapists at the Ellenville Regional Hospital. This allowed her to go to dinners, her grandchildren's baseball games, and family events, which gave her great joy. Survivors include her children, Dr. Herbert Lonstein and his wife Julie C., Wayne Lonstein, and his wife Julie S., Wendy Lonstein and her fiancé Mark, and Elizabeth Lonstein, all of Ellenville, New York. She enjoyed telling stories and Bubbe Meises (Yiddish for “grandmothers stories´) to her full baseball team of nine grandsons, Alex, David, Jason, Aaron, Ethan, Ari, Sam, Ian and Eric. Sondra is also survived by many loving Stein cousins and her friend and caretaker Anna Torres.
A graveside funeral service will take place on Wednesday August 5, 2020 at 10:00AM at the Congregation Anshe Tzadyik Synagogue Cemetery, Route 209 in Wawarsing with Rabbi Yitzhok Hecht officiating.
Funeral arrangements are honorably entrusted to the Joseph N. Garlick Funeral Home - Ellenville; 845-647-7747 or www.josephngarlickfuneralhome.com.
