Rosalind 'Roz' (Helen (Kenig)) Apter

Rosalind “Roz” Helen Apter, née Kenig, died at age 102 in Ashleigh at Lansdowne Assisted Living in Leesburg, Virginia on 16 March 2019. She was born to Aaron and Rebecca Kenig on August 28, 2016 in Hartford, Connecticut, the last of eight siblings, all of whom preceded her in death: Julius Kenig, Mollie Silversmith, Constance Kramer, Minnie Kenig, May Weinstein, Pearl Kenig, and Sophie Kenig.

Her parents, both immigrants, chose to speak English at home, and both could read it, facts of which she was proud. She’d tell stories of ironing with two flat irons heated on the stove, of the ice man delivering a block of ice for the literal ice box, of taking the trolley, of having her long hair cut when she had a childhood fever in the days before penicillin.

She graduated high school in 1933, in the depths of the Depression. Her father, unable to send her to college as he had sent most of her sisters, found the money to send her to secretarial school, which enabled her to get a job as a clerk for the State of Connecticut. When she could, she took college-level courses at WPA night school. Her love of learning was so great that in her 70s and 80s she took courses for senior citizens in history and literature. In turn, in those years, she volunteered to teach reading to illiterate adults and to do enrichment reading to and with individual children in elementary school.

In 1935 she began dating Marvin Apter, but the Depression kept their courtship long. They were able to marry in 1942. Throughout their marriage, ended by Marvin’s death in 1975, the two deeply enjoyed each other and their children, all of whom survive her: Ronnie Apter, wife of Mark Herman; Anne Thomas, wife of R. William Thomas; Janet Gross, wife of Louis Gross; Peter Apter, husband of Geraldine Apter; Ruth Apter, wife of Michael Schwinn; and Alan Apter, husband of Susan Apter. Her children remember their family life with pleasure, still telling each other stories of their activities, many of which are about “adventures” with their parents, like taking picnics to state parks, or driving down dirt roads which would come out - who knows where? Or the story Peter Apter cannot escape, often retold by his mother with great pleasure: “Pete was sitting in his high chair, not finishing his eggs. So I reached over and started eating them. He told me, ‘ ’Pit it out! My ’crambled egg!’ ”

Roz and Marvin were blessed with close friends: Abraham and Jane Silver, Veronica and Irwin Ertman, and Robert and Eleanor Brody. They also stayed close with their relatives, visiting often.

After Marvin died, Roz took over the management of a Bonanza he had been managing in Norwich, Connecticut. Such was her business acumen, that a group her son Peter had formed to buy up seven more would only take on the investment if she agreed to run the operation. Run them she did, starting a whole new career in her sixties.

Highly energetic and well organized, raising children and managing stores was not enough. She liked to do needlepoint and to knit. She knitted her children mounds of interesting and intricate mittens, cardigans, Fair-Isle sweaters, and their homes are adorned with her needlepoint creations.


Rosalind was predeceased by her granddaughter Marsha Kaller-Apter, daughter of Peter Apter and Marlene Kaller, but is survived by grandchildren Julie Schwedock, Daniel and Jeffry Herman; Peter and Owen Thomas; Jared and Marlen Gross; Evan and Tucker Parrish; Melissa and Ross Apter; and many great-grandchildren.

A private grave-side service will be held at the Kenig Family Cemetery at 1:00PM on 20 March 2019. The Weinstein Mortuary is in charge of the funeral arrangement.

Please do not send flowers or make donations.