The Megillah mourns the passing of Jeanette Gottlieb, mother of our own Marge Gottlieb who graces our pages with her wonderful writing every month. Marge has composed some loving and gentle thoughts about her mom, which I would like to share with the entire Megillah family.

Michael

My mother, Jeanette Gottlieb, was 88 years old and had been married to my dad, Bernard, for 70 years. She was known as "The Bunka Lady." "Bunka" is a form of Japanese needlepoint. The word means "culture" in Japanese, and creates three-dimensional textures that cannot be duplicated with traditional embroidery.

She was the oldest adult education instructor on Long Island, and until 86, she taught this skill in four school districts.

Jeanette leaves behind "her Bernie," 3 children, 9 grandchildren, many great-grandchildren, and 150+ museum-quality art pieces..

Jeanette admitted that she was not computer literate or microwave literate. About 10 years ago her children gave her a spiffy white microwave oven. Marjorie gave her the following instructions: "Mom, if you want to heat something for 15 seconds, push 15, plus START. If you want to heat something for 15 minutes, push 15 plus 00,and START.

Jeanette's expression indicated mild-to- severe confusion. Over the next six months, the high-tech microwave was never used. In fact, it was unplugged.

Finally, about a year later, she called and said, "Marge, you'll be so proud of me. I made baked apples in the COMPUTER."

"The Bunka Lady" is gone, but the wonderful memories remain.