Remembering Helga Tannenbaum of Berkeley

Beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Helga Tannenbaum passed away peacefully on December 24. She was 100 years old. She is survived by daughter Sylvia Banks (Ron) and son Steven Schwarz (Carolyn), grandchildren Curtis (Julie), Deborah (Randy), and Leslie (Jim), Jennifer, and Susan (Andrew), and great-grandchildren Hannah, Jack, Dylan, Adam, Jeremy, Jacob, Nathan, and Noah.

Born in Wiesbaden, Germany, and educated in Switzerland and England, she escaped Germany during WWII and moved to Brazil where her two children were born and her first husband, Kurt Schwarz, died. As a young widow, she brought her two young children to New York and eventually settled in Berkeley, CA, where she happily remained for over 60 years.

Helga was full of “joie de vivre.” She spoke five languages and loved to interact with people wherever she went. She played the accordion at family parties; she took up tap dancing in her sixties, studied Hebrew in her seventies, and learned how to use the computer in her eighties. She had a true gift for poetry and had a poem ready for every occasion, which she always signed “cards from Hell.”

Helga was active until the end—dancing, laughing, playing bridge and mahjong, going out to the theatre and concerts, and getting her hair done every week. Her family and friends were the most important part of her life. She was especially proud of her eight great-grandchildren and loved to share in all of their celebrations and life events. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

A service will be held at the Rolling Hills Memorial Park Cemetery in Richmond on Tuesday, December 30, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. where she will be buried with her second husband, Hugo Tannenbaum.

Contributions in Helga’s honor may be made to the Jewish National Fund: www.jnf.org/support/tree-planting-center; or Temple Sinai, 2808 Summit Street, Oakland, CA 94609.

Submitted by Deborah Banks