Obituary of Freda Young

Freda Berlowitz Young died in her home in Arlington, Virginia on Thursday evening, January 28, 2010. She was 4 days shy of her 88th birthday. Born in Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan in 1922, Freda grew up in the Bronx, the first child born to parents who had emigrated from Lithuania. At the age of 19, she married Bernard Young of Brooklyn. Their 53 year marriage, filled with love and devotion to one another, produced three children and four grandsons. As was typical of the time, free moments were spent with family and friends, filling one relatives' home or another with children and food, and adults talking. Countless friends and family have memories of these numerous times spent together over dozens of years.. Both New Yorkers, they found their home in Plainfield, New Jersey, and became very active in the community. Freda was a volunteer dispatcher for the Plainfield Rescue Squad, she recorded for the blind, was President of the Temple Beth El Sisterhood and volunteered for numerous events in the Plainfield Public Schools which her children attended. Freda lived through the Depression, was an Air Force wife during World War II and trained and became a professional lighting consultant at Capital Lighting in Watchung. A 20 year resident of Plainfield, and then Piscataway and Monroe Township, her final home was in Arlington, Virginia. She was predeceased by her parents, Israel and Beatrice Berlowitz, a sister Minka, her husband Bernard, and a grandson Aaron. She is survived by her children, Janice Gerard of Arlington, Nancy Soschin and son in law, Alan of Springfield, VA and Michael of Philadelphia; her grandsons, Danny and his wife Sydney Soschin, Charles Soschin, and Jesse Gerard; and by her two brothers, Laurence Berlowitz of Massachusetts, and Arthur Berlowitz of California. Funeral services will be held on Sunday, January 31, at 11:30 a.m. at Higgins Home for Funerals, 209 West Eighth St., Plainfield before the burial at Beth Israel Memorial Park in Woodbridge. In lieu of flowers, gifts or donations, the family asks that you hug a loved one and hope for peace.