Tombstone Tuesday: Esther Wilson Marwit Warmflash

Esther Warmflash gravestone, Mount Hebron Cemetery, Flushing, Queens, New York, Block 23, Reference 20, Section L, Line 3, Grave 60, Zaleszczyki Kranken Unterstuetzungs Verein, photograph in possession of the author, photographed by Mount Hebron Cemetery, 24 October 2013.

TO KNOW HER

WAS TO LOVE HER

Here lies

Ester daughter of Saul

ESTHER

WARMFLASH

BELOVED WIFE

DEC. 4 1973

AGE 75 YEARS 

Last Thusday I noted that I did not yet have a photograph of my Great Aunt Esther's tombstone. I had paid Mount Hebron Cemetery ($10.75) to take a photograph of her stone.  A hard copy photograph arrived in the mail on Saturday.

Thursday's post indicated that I thought Esther had taught at Seward Park High School. I have since found out that she did and later taught English at William Howard Taft High School in the Bronx from, probably, the late 1950s and into the 1960s. [1] 

There are a few things about this grave and gravestone that are either wrong or curious. First, is the location. Esther married (for that time period a little late in life) at age 31 on 29 June 1930. [2]  She and her husband, Rabbi/Cantor Solomon Marwit, were together for 36 years until Sol's death in February 1967. 

Sol may be buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery. I say "may" because while Find A Grave documents his grave there, the Mount Carmel Cemetery website interment index does not indicate they have anyone by that surname in the cemetery. I have also checked the JewishGen Online World Burial Registry and JewishData.com and they do not include Sol's grave. I will have to either send a note to the person who documented the grave for Find a Grave or contact Mt. Carmel Cemetery, or both.

Before Esther died, she had, apparently, been living with Max Warmflash. Max did not produce a marriage certificate, but insisted that he and Esther were, indeed, married. Needless to say, attorneys were involved. Ultimately the case was settled.

The family must have left the immediate burial arrangements and the placement of the stone a year later to Max. I suggest this because I would think that her stone might otherwise have noted her role as a "beloved sister" and an "aunt." In addition, Esther's father's name is incorrect on the stone. Saul Wilson's Hebrew/Yiddish name was Zelig Chaim. Saul was the name he took when he immigrated. The family would have known that.

Notes:
1. Thank you to Barry Kuperman (my cousin Gail's husband) for this information. He was a student of Esther's at Taft. Email communication (28 October 2013).
2. New York County, New York, Certificate and Record of Marriage no. 15704 (29 June 1930), Solomon Marwit and Esta E. Wilson, New York City Municipal Archives, New York.
3. "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 30 Oct 2013), Solomon Marwit, February 1967; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).