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Hazel Gensberg

Hazel Gensberg

Hazel Gensberg, wife of the late Sam Wandel and the late Herman Gensberg, passed away March 16, 2020, in Denver. She was 104. Rabbis Yaakov Chaitovsky and Steven Foster and Cantor Martin Goldstein officiated at the private interment on March 16 at Rose Hill Cemetery. Feldman Mortuary made the arrangements.

“My mom was a strong and amazing person,” said her daughter Sura Veta. “Her mind was very sharp and she had incredible math skills. She never used a calculator, not once. She did it all in her head.

“She was my best friend and my mom. The longer you have a parent, the harder it is to lose them. But I was fortunate to know her for so long.”

Hazel was born Nov. 8, 1915, in Sheboygan, Wis., to Abraham and Rose Golden. The family moved to Colorado Springs when Hazel was 12 and remained until 1936. After a brief stay in Denver, they returned to Sheboygan.

Hazel and Sam Wandel, son of active BMH members Lazarus and Sarah Wandel, maintained a long distance correspondence for two years and were married in 1938.

The Wandels owned a millinery store on 15th Street. Sam Wandel passed away on July 9, 1945. Hazel was left to raise daughter Sura, six, and son Ardie, two-and-a-half, alone. She started selling high-end children’s clothing at Neusteter’s Dept. Store.

Hazel married Herman Gensberg in 1952, and the family became close to Rabbi Samuel Adelman at BMH. “He was like a father to my son; he was so wonderful,” she told the IJN in 2012.

When Mr. Gensberg passed away in 1972, Hazel rejoined the workforce. She was an assistant in the Israel Bonds office, worked for the Colorado Zionist Federation and managed the gift shop at Temple Emanuel

Hazel became a volunteer and then a full time employee at BMH-BJ after the two congregations merged in 1996. Until four years ago — when she was 100 — hers was the friendly, competent voice greeting people who called the BMH-BJ. The synagogue honored Hazel on her 100th birthday.

“I have learned that the minute you are born, your life is mapped out for you,” Hazel told the IJN. “I can look back and see that things happen the way they are supposed to happen. That’s why I live with G-d every single day of my life. There isn’t a night that I don’t thank G-d and say the Shema.”

Hazel Gensberg is survived by her children Sura (Norman) Veta and Mort (Fran) Gensberg; daughter-in-law Charlene Wandel; grandchildren Shereen (Michael) Pollack, Amy (Jeff) Bernstein, Hyla Feder, Stephen Wandel, Rayna Wandel, Mark (Elena) Veta and Neal Veta; great-grandchildren Jenni (Zev) Norotsky, Jordy Pollack, Josh, Seth and Matty Bernstein, Aly and Mia Schneider, Elysa, Jenna and Ianne Veta, Sam, Ethan and Julie Veta; and great-great-grandchildren Belle and Hazel Norotsky.

She was predeceased by her son Ardie Wandel on Feb. 10, 2020.

Contributions may be made to BMH-BJ.

Copyright © 2020 by the Intermountain Jewish News




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