Edna Belle Kalson
KALSON: Edna Belle Kalson, on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019. Beloved wife of the late William R. Kalson. Loving mother of Irwin Kalson (Kathleen Rall), David (Susan) Kalson and the late Sally Kalson (surviving spouse Edward Feinstein). Predeceased by siblings Jerome (late Ruth) Friedman, Frank (late Joan) Friedman and Paula Ruth (late Roy) Mitchel. Cherished grandmother of Alison (Stuart) Wexler, Zoe Feinstein, William Kalson (Elizabeth Belczyk), Hannah Kalson and Rachel Kalson. Great-grandmother of Dashiell Wexler and Ezra Kalson. Also survived by many loving nieces and nephews. Special friend of the late Ben Root and dear friend of Joan Friedberg. Edna Belle, known to her family and many friends as Sis, Aunt Sis, and Grandma Sis, graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill in 1939. She and her sister Paula Ruth held down the home front while Jerry and Frank went off to fight the war. Sis was swept off her feet in 1946 by the dashing Bill Kalson whom she met at the Y camp in the Laurel Highlands, the cauldron for a host of baby boomers, including Irwin, Sally and David. The family settled in Mt. Lebanon in the 1950s, where Bill and Sis were founding members of Temple Emanuel. In addition to launching her children into happy, meaningful lives, Sis adapted to the late 1960s by pursuing her own career, first as the executive secretary of the Chartiers MH&MR Center, then for decades as the executive secretary of Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Pittsburgh. Bill passed away in 1977 but Sis soldiered on with a deeply fulfilling life. She had a gift for friendship, loved to laugh (especially with Paula Ruth) and travel, never stopped learning, and could still beautifully sing songs of the 1940s, accompanying herself on the piano, well into her late 90s. We are grateful for her life and we will miss her. Services at Rodef Shalom Temple, 4905 Fifth Avenue (at Morewood) on Thursday at 11 AM. Visitation one hour prior to services at Temple (10 – 11 AM). Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the Sally Kalson Courage in Journalism Fund c/oThe Pittsburgh Foundation, Five PPG Place, Suite 250, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. www.schugar.com
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