OBITUARIES

Lillian Regina Weisz, 92

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ATLANTA, GA. – Lillian Regina (Brown) Weisz, born in Montreal, Canada, on April 22, 1923, died peacefully on March 24 in Atlanta, where she had resided with her son and his family since 2006. She was the beloved wife of the late Paul B. Weisz, who died in 2005, and daughter of the late Moses A. Brown and late Sadie Freedman Brown of Montreal. 

Lillian attended McGill University in Montreal, taught grade school there and worked at Nelson & Douglas, the family store. She met Paul at McGill and they married in 1945. In 1947 Lillian and Paul moved to Providence, where he became a biology professor and author at Brown University and where they raised their three children. Lillian maintained a lifelong interest in teaching and spent much of her post-child-rearing years obtaining a master’s degree in special education and teaching underprivileged dyslexic children how to read and write. She developed an innovative system and program called “Think-a-Lings” and “Think-a-Links” and was known as the “Puter Lady” at the Rochambeau Library in Providence for her ahead-of-the-times interest in helping children gain computer skills.

She was a Girl Scout leader and was involved in creating puppet shows and making puppets. Lillian was a fearless proponent of equal rights and while she was very proud of her Jewish heritage and personal family background, she was open and embracing of all peoples and faiths…not just as a platitude, but as a lifestyle.

In 1997 Lillian and Paul moved to Laurelmead, in Providence, where they became active and involved residents. Together they established Laurelmead College as a community learning center. Both offered classes in their areas of expertise and enlisted others to do the same. Lillian ran classes that combined her background in teaching with her artistic talents in stained glass. She created illustrations of folk tales from around the world in stained glass, as well as stained glass reliefs that she donated to several Providence locations, including Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Swan Point Cemetery Chapel, Temple Beth-El, Rochambeau Library as well as throughout Laurelmead. Lillian’s stained glass folk tale artworks are permanently installed in the windows along the connector between Laurelmead and Epoch.

Lillian spent a lifetime working her magic on all those who have known her.  She was one of those people whom everyone just seemed to love. The kind twinkle in her eyes and her respect and love of all forms of life without qualification is part of her legacy. One of her most profound values, “whatever you do and wherever you are, leave things better than how you found them,” remains a simple yet powerful outlook. 

Lillian is survived by her three children, Stephanie Weisz and her partner John Bean of North Attleboro, Mass., Sherye Weisz and her husband Edward Smith of Norton, Mass., Peter Weisz and his wife Pauline Weisz of Brooks, Ga.; her eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Elinor Cohen of Montreal and her nieces.

The family requests donations to an Alzheimer’s organization of your choosing.