Obituary of Rita Kern
Rita Bertha Kern was a beloved wife, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, and great grandmother. She passed away peacefully on January 26, 2025 at age 97 ½.
On July 27, 1927, she was born to Max and Fanny Schneider, who immigrated from Poland to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, as teenagers. Rita is predeceased by her two sisters, Shirley and Annette, who she loved dearly. Since she was a young girl, Rita worked to support her family. She sacrificed a college education to work in the garment industry. Throughout her twenties, she loved to travel across the country. As a fiercely independent and modern woman, Rita was thrilled by the opportunity for women to enter the workforce during WWII.
Rita met the love of her life, Frederick (“Freddie”) Kern, while on a weekend getaway at the Concord Hotel. They moved to Canarsie, Brooklyn and had two daughters, Allison and Michele. Rita cared for her daughters while working for over a decade as the executive secretary to the Dean of Students at Kingsborough Community College.
When their daughters moved north to Westchester to start their own families, Rita and Fred quickly sold their Brooklyn home to be closer to family. Together, Rita and Freddie were the most loving, devoted, and attentive Nannie and Papa to their grandchildren, Dylan and Miranda (of Allison) and Arianna and Maxim (of Michele). Valuing education, Rita and Freddie contributed toward all of their grandchildren’s college expenses. Rita and Freddie eventually relocated to West Palm Beach, Florida, where Rita took on an active leadership role serving on the board of her condominium community. When Freddie passed away, Rita, for a second time, moved north to Westchester to be with her grandchildren.
Rita was an active listener. She was always engaged in and wanted to understand the intricacies of people’s lives and stories. She started off every phone call, “so, what’s new?” She cared deeply about her family and reliably attended every family gathering, even into the last weeks of her life. Rita was a competitor at heart. She was a bocce ball champion, a Brooklyn bowler, an avid Mahjong and Rummikub player, and solved complex crossword puzzles daily.
Rita is survived by her daughters, Michele and Allison, her son “in-law”, Floyd, who she considered her own, her grandchildren, Dylan, Miranda, Arianna, and Max, and her great granddaughter, Emma Sky.
A private funeral will be followed by a Shiva on Sunday, February 2nd, from 12 pm - 7 pm at the home of Floyd and Michele Kern-Rappy.
Although Rita eventually became legally blind, she was very grateful to Lighthouse Guild to the Blind for showing kindness in assisting with her vision. Therefore, she is asking that memorial contributions be made to Lighthouse Guild to the Blind.
