Laura Saal, beloved mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister and friend, passed away on March 23,2017 at the age of 96 at home surrounded by her family . Funeral services were held at Hills of Eternity in Colma California on March 26, 2017.
Laura was born and grew up in the Bronx, N.Y. She was always New Yorker at heart. After enduring the hardships of the depression and the inception of WW ll she managed to put herself through college at Hunter College in NYC, earning a B.S. degree in Chemistry. She carried this achievement with a great deal of pride throughout her life. Fresh out of school she worked as a food/beer chemist. She later taught home economics in high school, and tutored in chemistry. She was devoted to her parents, Anna and Jacob, and her younger sister Betty.
On a blind date Laura met, fell in love, and married Myron Saal . Together they built a life of extraordinary love and friendship, raising three sons, Bruce , Jeff, and Joel.
Laura's next great achievement was in providing the love, support ( financial and otherwise), motivation and guidance to send each of her sons to Medical School. Following graduation from medical school each one became pioneers in their fields and still practice today in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Laura's next extraordinary achievement was the development of her gift and jewelry business. While starting out with selling gifts from the family home. She developed a large following which led to the opening of her own shop Laura Saal's Gifts in Monsey, New York. She worked tirelessly 7 days per week often more than 12 hours per day managing and working this enterprise. How she juggled this, along with responsibilities as wife, homemaker and mother is beyond understanding. Her store was famous throughout Rockland County and Northern New Jersey. Customers flocked to her store for her personal touch extraordinaire, and of course, great prices.
Her beloved husband Myron passed away at age 68, (2/22/85)after a long illness. Laura nursed him through this difficult time while still trying to keep the business alive. In a act of incredible will, she sold her business and arranged to move Myron and herself out to Palo Alto, California to be with her three sons and first grandchild.
Never to be deterred, after Myron passed, she started the next chapter in her life. She met Ralph Grant, a widower at a support group. Together they travelled the world as she finally had the opportunity to play after decades of hard work. They lived in the Villages, a retirement community in San José, Ca. Under Laura's nurturing supervision she nursed Ralph through a chronic illness to which he finally succumbed.
Laura was a devoted friend to all, having a unique ability to make every individual she met feel as though they were the most important person in the world.
She forged special friendships with her grandchildren that were extremely deep and close. She mentored each one of them to make sure they were on the proper life's paths. She was able to attend and dance at the weddings of two of her granddaughters.
She had an indominable spirit and a life's mantra of "be happy". She possessed tremendous self confidence which she taught to all who would listen.
She was so proud to repeat to her Mother Anna's quote "Everybody loves my Laura".
Laura is survived by her three sons, her beloved grandchildren, Rachel, Nicole, Alexander, Matthew, and Cody, and her great grandchildren, Makena and Milani.
Laura had a lifelong love of medical research. Gifts in her name can be made to the American Heart Association.