Sylvia Levine, 101, died on December 2, 2024, in the loving company of her children.
Sylvia was an only child, born on May 29, 1923, and grew up in Elmont, N.Y., with two hard working parents who ran their own department store. She found companionship in the characters of the books she’d read and discovered her love for music playing classical piano. She loved to roller-skate, and her stories about skating down the busy roads of Elmont, unbeknownst to her parents, lived on through her ripe age of 101.
Sylvia graduated from Ohio University, where she double majored in English and Music, and where she met the love of her life, Charles. They married seven months later and were inseparable for 62 years, until Charles died in 2006. After college, Sylvia was an English teacher for high school girls in the Texas prison system and then became a librarian at Brooklyn Public Library, a job she loved. After her children went to college, Sylvia worked as a dental assistant to Charles in his Wantagh, N.Y., dental practice.
Charles was in the U.S. Air Force, and while stationed in Japan during the Korean War, he and Sylvia lived in Japan. She later traveled throughout the world, including Europe, South America and China. Vacations with family and friends were a joy to her. She enjoyed hosting dinner parties and was an extraordinary cook. Well into her nineties, Sylvia hosted and cooked delicious Thanksgiving dinners and would kick everyone out of her kitchen, refusing all help, insisting she wanted to do it all herself. That was Sylvia!
Sylvia was forward-thinking and progressive for her time and embraced changing times and movements of equality. She was a news junkie who read The New York Times daily and did the NYT crossword puzzle every night in bed. She took history classes into her eighties, always indulging in thoughtful political discussions and forming new friendships with those she encountered. Sylvia played the piano beautifully, was an avid bridge player, and loved gourmet cooking, classical music, and attending New York Philharmonic concerts. After moving to Vermont in 1984, she also took up cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
Sylvia was fiercely independent, strong and positive, always finding the inner strength through the hardest times of life. She would go above and beyond when it came to helping her friends and family. She cared for her beloved husband, Charles, throughout his 30 years with Parkinson’s disease and devoted those 30 years to his well-being. When she completely lost her hearing near the age of 100, she’d allay concerns, noting, “I don’t dwell on my hearing, because I have fabulous eyesight!”
Sylvia’s love and pride for her four grandchildren and great-granddaughters was immense. She was ready to give up anything at any time in order to spend time with them. She sang and danced with them when they were young, cooked the best French toast and was their greatest cheerleader. She cherished all her time with them, and they cherished theirs with her.
Sylvia taught a senior strength exercise class at the Charlotte Senior Center for nearly 20 years, until the age of 98. Never could she understand why she was celebrated and adored by her many and loyal class participants, because she felt tremendous indebtedness to them for enhancing her life with their friendship over the years.
Anyone who knew Sylvia before she moved to the Arbors knows of her little sidekick, Lulu, her beloved Havanese dog she received as a puppy, when she was age 85. They grew old together, sharing bundles of love and companionship. Sylvia’s heart would be warmed to know 16-year-old Lulu is living out Sylvia’s legacy of resilience and zest for life.
Sylvia is survived by her children, Dan Levine of South Burlington, Vt. (his partner, Sybille of Chelmsford, Mass.); and Deb Brow (Mike) of Burlington, Vt.; her four grandchildren, Kim Kirk (Trent) of Charlotte, N.C., Jeff Brow (Sheryl) of Skokie, Ill., Greg and Brian Levine of South Burlington, Vt.; and two precious great-grandchildren, Ali and Leah Kirk. She was predeceased by her beloved husband, Charles Levine, and her parents, Jack and Esther Schulman.
The family would like to express deep appreciation for the care Sylvia received from the Arbors at Shelburne, as well as her hospice team from the University of Vermont Home Health and Hospice, and to her family, friends and neighbors from near and afar, who always had an eye out for her well-being and brightened up her days with visits, flowers, goodies, cards or phone calls.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and to the Greater Burlington Humane Society.
A memorial service celebrating Sylvia’s life and the life of her husband, Charles, will be held at on December 26, 2024, 1:00 p.m., at Temple Sinai in South Burlington.
This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2024.