Sara Moses
Holocaust survivor Sara Moses passed away on March 30, 2025. She was 86. A funeral was held on April 3, 2025, at B’nai Chaim synagogue and Golden Cemetery, officiated by Rabbi Stephen Booth-Nadav. A celebration of life will take place in the future. Aspen Mortuaries made the arrangements.
Born on April 10, 1938 in Piotrkow, Poland, Mrs. Moses was a young child when she and her family were torn from their home and subjected to Nazi persecution. Mrs. Moses survived both Ravensbruck and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.
“On April 10, 1945, I didn’t know then it was my seventh birthday that I spent on the floor in Bergen-Belsen with death all around me,” Mrs. Moses said in a 2013 speech on Yom HaShoah. “Five days later, the British liberated us. I was reunited with my father who survived Buchenwald concentration camp.”
After liberation, Mrs. Moses and her family moved to St. Louis, Mo.
“Determined to ensure that the world would never forget the atrocities of the Holocaust,” her family said, “she spent decades speaking at schools, museums and community events.
“She became a voice for the millions who perished and an inspiration to those who heard her message of hope, survival and the importance of remembrance.”
In May, 2019, Mrs. Moses told the IJN why it was important to her to tell her story:
“I will also give advice to myself, that little girl who wasn’t even allowed to cry for fear of getting killed. I had to be silent.
“Today I speak unafraid. But the biggest accomplishment in my life is that I have learned to embrace, respect and love myself for where I came from.”
Son Jon Moses said: “She made a tremendous impact on society as an advocate for forgiveness, peace and living by the Golden Rule.
“She was an extraordinary human being.”
Mrs. Moses spent the past 10 years living in Denver.
Survivors are children Fran DeLuca, Ben Moses, David Moses and Jon Moses; and sister Helen Frischenmeyer.
Contributions may be made to JFS or Kavod Senior Life.
Dianne Cooper
Denver native Dianne Kay Levine Cooper died on March 23, 2025, at the age of 79. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Feldman Mortuary is handling the arrangements.
Mrs. Cooper, born on February 19, 1946, attended the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1966. That same year she married David Cooper; they were a couple for 59 years before her passing.
In 1979, Mrs. Cooper and her family moved to Bakersfield, Calif. She completed her master’s degree at California State University and became licensed as a marriage and family therapist. She practiced as a therapist for over 35 years.
Mrs. Cooper passed away in San Marcos, Calif.
“Her career was her calling,” Mrs. Cooper wrote in her own obituary drafted before her death. “She cherished the meaning and sustenance it provided her.”
Mr. Cooper said: “We look forward to the time when we can move on from the profound loss we feel and are able to focus on the extraordinarily good fortune to have had Dianne in our lives.”
Survivors are Mrs. Cooper’s husband David, children Nathaniel (Marcie) Neff-Cooper and Elanor Rachel (Ryan) Van Der Vorste; grandchildren Phoebe and Luke Neff-Cooper, Wilden and Jake Van Der Vorste; sisters Jane Levine and Barbara (Ronnie) Leigh; and nephew Nicholas Beatty.
Contributions may be made to the Bakersfield Homeless Center, The Gleaners or The Bakersfield Museum of Art.
© IJN 2025
