Norma Saxe Kerlinsky

Norma Saxe Kerlinsky
1927 - 2024
Springfield
Norma Saxe Kerlinsky passed away on December 1, 2024, in Springfield, Massachusetts. She was born on November 22, 1927, in Cincinnati, Ohio to Lillian Sanders Saxe and Joseph Saxe and grew up surrounded by a large and loving family, including her younger sister, Marlene, her maternal grandparents, and many aunts, uncles, and first cousins. In the summer of 1947, she met Louis Kerlinsky at the Breakers Hotel in Atlantic City, where she was a waitress and he was a busboy. Together, they planned to save the world. They married in 1948 while she was a student at the University of Cincinnati and he was a student at the University of Chicago.
Norma was an inspiration to all who knew her. While Lou was in law school, Norma taught first grade in Guilford, Connecticut, sharing her compassion and love of learning with her students, one of whom continued to write to her for over 70 years. In 1971, while raising five children, Norma earned a Masters of Education from Springfield College. At age 50, she enrolled in law school at Western New England College of Law and, after graduating, practiced law for over 25 years. She lived in Longmeadow, Massachusetts for over 70 years.
Norma was smart, witty, and loved to make people laugh. She loved literature and poetry and wrote wonderful children's poems, short stories, and more. She had an exceptional memory and often told stories about growing up during the Great Depression. She also shared her love of crossword puzzles and card games with her children and grandchildren. Most of all, she loved her family, providing unconditional love to her five children, thirteen grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren and rarely missing an opportunity to attend a family reunion, wedding, b'nai mitzvah, graduation, or other life event for nieces, nephews, cousins, or other relatives.
She is survived by her husband Lou Kerlinsky, children Deborah Tipermas and her husband Alan Tipermas, Daniel Kerlinsky and his wife Alicia Kerlinsky, Susan Kerlinsky, Nathan Kerlinsky, and Jo Saxe Levy and her husband Charles Levy, grandchildren Jonathan Tipermas and his wife Becky, Michael Tipermas, Rebecca (Tipermas) Goodman and her husband Aytan, Rachel Tipermas, Kochava Ayon, Lily (Ayoun) Marcus and her husband Zvi, Daniel Kerlinsky, Neshamah Kerlinsky, Joseph "Joey" Kerlinsky, Isabelle Levy, Carolyn Levy, Benjamin Levy, and Isaac Levy, and great-grandchildren Eva, Nathan, Jacob, and Zachary Tipermas and Nadav and Kedem Marcus.