Gisele Lesny

Gisele Lesny, 98, of Bloomfield, died Monday afternoon (March 25, 2019). She was the mother of Marge Berman, grandmother of Alyssa Norwood and her husband Joel, and great-grandmother of Eliot, Clara and Amy. She was married to Dr. George Lesny for 47 years until his death in 1994. Gisele was born in Bratislava on July 1, 1920 in the then newly formed country of Czechoslovakia, where she lived with her loving parents, Zigmond and Margit Kurti and her two older siblings, the late Leslie Kurtis, M.D. and the late Elizabeth Radvanska. Gisele was deported to Auschwitz in 1942 and survived there for three years until liberation following the Death March in 1945. She moved to Prague where she married in 1947. Shortly after the Communist Coup of 1948, she moved to Guatemala, where she lived for two years. She entered the U.S. under the Displaced Persons Act in 1950 and moved to Cincinnati. After two months, she moved to New York City. She completed a course of study at the Art Students League of New York. She has created over 200 original oil paintings and painted until her death. She delighted in her family, read the New York Times daily, and lived a life of dignity and simplicity. Her high quality of life until her death was made possible by the tireless and loving care provided by her daughter Marge. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, March 27, at 11 a.m. at Weinstein Mortuary, 640 Farmington Ave, Hartford, CT, with Rabbi Yitzchok Adler officiating. Interment will follow at the Emanuel Synagogue Cemetery, Wethersfield. Shiva will be observed at the Norwood family home, 48 Farnham Rd., West Hartford on Wednesday and Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Memorial contributions may be made to

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

100 Raoul Wallenberg Pl SW Washington, DC 20024

www.ushmm.org

Shiva will be observed at the Norwood family home

48 Farnham Road

West Hartford, CT

on Wednesday and Thursday from 4:00pm to 6:00pm