In Memory of Maria Mezheritsky
	Full Name At Birth:	Maria Rabinovich
	Place of Birth:	Minsk, Russia
	Date of Birth:	March 8, 1914
	Date of Death:	June 12, 1996
	Place of Death:	Los Angeles, CA
Place of Final Disposition: Inglewood Park Cemetery 720 E. Florence Ave., Ingelwood, CA

Living Family: To Our Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother. We wish you peace and happiness in God's hands. We thank you for the love and life that you given us. May you rest in peace. We love you!	Children Ludmila Shekhtman Yelena Molchanov Vilory Mezheritsky Grandchildren Alla Ratynets Galina Swigi Serge Mezheritsky Alexander Molchanov Anna Mezheritsky Great Grandchildren Debra Ratynets Daniel Ratynets Gill Swigi Maya Swigi Nicole Mezheritsky
Accomplishments: Maria Mezheritsky was not an ordinary woman. She was a spirit full of life that against all odds survived the death of her husband, the Nazi extermination of the Jewish people, the dreaded Russian hunger and famine of 1945 and 1946, the rise and fall of communism, immigration to America, two heart attacks, one stroke, and amputation of her leg. Against these odds she still managed to raise three children, five grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. Most important, she keep her promise to her beloved husband, "To live and keep their family name alive." She was fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, Yiddish, Byelorussian, and English The wife of a Lieutenant Major in the Soviet Army Survived the second World War Survived the Holocaust Raised 3 children, 5 grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren Put her children through college Was renowned for her famous fish dishes? Survived two major heart attacks, a stroke and leg amputation Independent and free spirted, a women a head of her time A person who lived for her children, her family and beloved husband
Favorite Poem: "To The Sea" Farewell, free element of sea! For one last time I watch your tide roll azure waves in front of me and shine in beauty full of pride. Like farewell mutter of a friend deserted for a colder clime, the sad, inviting call you send resounds to me for one last time. Beloved region of my soul! How often, next to your shoreline, mute and beclouded I would stroll, worn by my ultimate design! How much I loved your deep replies, Your chasm's voice, your splashes' chime, and silence at the evening time, and gusts of fanciful surprise! Tradesmen or fishers' humble boat glides bravely, guarded by your will, amid the waves, for days afloat; But you turn rough, impregnable, and schools of ships go down your throat. I never got to say goodnight to this unmoving, boring shore, greet you with surges of delight and level my poetic flight along your crests forevermore. You called, you waited... but the chain and mighty passion held me bound; My soul went out to you in vain; Still, I remained upon the ground. What to regret? Where, in distress, would I now set my path and goal? One object in your wilderness could still affect my frigid soul. One lofty crag, a glorious tomb... There stately memories dwelled on and plunged in sleep of cold and gloom: There faded great Napoleon. Amid great pangs he rested there. And like a thunder afterwards, another genius left us bare, another master of our hearts. He fled, bewailed by liberty, bequeathing to the world his palms. Grow agitated, roar, o sea: of you, of you he sang his psalms. Your image was designed on him, in spirit he was made the same: Like you, dynamic, deep and grim. Like you, impossible to tame. The world grew empty... Ocean, where, what shore now would you cast me at? Same all around the earthly share: Where shows a drop of welfare, there guards preaching or an autocrat. Farewell then, sea! I won't forget your beauty full of solemn power; long, long will I be hearing yet your rumble at an evening hour. To silent wilderness, to groves I'll carry over, filled with you, your crags and waves, your bays and coves, and shine, and shade, and murmuring blue. Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin 1824