Lea Matz

Longtime Milwaukeean Lea Matz (nee Gelmanovitch) died Feb. 11 of congestive heart failure. She was 93.

She was born in Montreal and came to Milwaukee in 1948 after marrying Harry Matz, also of Montreal. He was a produce manager for Kohl’s Food Stores; he died in 1990.

The last of her generation in the Matz and Gelmanovitch families, “her most cherished accomplishment” was to be a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, according to her daughter, Harriet Matz of Brown Deer. “Her extended family [was] a constant source of love and support. She remembered them all by name even in her 93rd year.”

She was “first and foremost a homemaker” who celebrated and enjoyed Shabbat and all Jewish holidays. Her family remembers her “very special, weekly, chicken soup and knaidels and chocolate chip banana cake dessert.”

A former member of Congregation Beth Jehudah, she was also a member of Women’s American ORT and the Beth El Ner Tamid Sisterhood.

Rabbi Gideon Goldenholz officiated at the funeral on Feb. 13. Burial was in Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel Cemetery.

In addition to Harriet Matz, she is survived by daughter Andrea Bootzin, also of Brown Deer, “special daughter-in-law” Enid Bootzin of Glendale; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions to the Milwaukee Jewish Home and Care Center, Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue or Women’s American ORT would be appreciated by the family.