BRENDA STRAUSZ

ylvia Frankelson
liorowitz had no
greater love than
her family.
"We were her whole
life: feeding us, clothing
us, taking care of us,"
recalls her daughter,
Brenda Strausz of
Southfield.
The family lived in
Oak Park, where Mrs.
Horowitz and her three
children often walked in
the afternoon to the pool
or the ice rink. She was
born in Winnipeg, and
she moved to the United

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States from Canada after
she married her hus-
band, a Detroit native in
the produce business.
In her later years,
Mrs. Horowitz suffered a
series of small strokes.
She began having a hard
time remembering and
had hallucinations.
Mrs. Horowitz sensed
that her life was coming
to its end. "I'm not long
for the world," she told
her daughter.
Yet she had no physi-
cal ailments, and her
appearance was good,
Mrs. Strausz says. Mrs.
Horowitz even traveled
to Florida in December
1986. There, she had a
massive stroke. Her chil-
dren came from Detroit
to be with her. But by
the time they arrived,
Mrs. Horowitz had fallen
into a coma. She died 11
days later and was
buried in Detroit.
Several months after
her mother's death, Mrs.
Strausz was sitting in
her den. It was a cozy
room, with a fireplace
and mauve-colored
couches. A painting of a
winter scene hangs
straight ahead; family
photos and friendly, flop-
py dolls are everywhere.
Mrs. Strausz was talk-
ing on the phone. The TV
was on.
Without warning, an
incredible light flashed
in the room. It was, Mrs.
Strausz says, like a daz-
zling sparkler, and "it
was beautiful."
Mrs. Strausz dropped
the phone. The light van-

ished. She sensed imme-
diately it had been her
mother. Mrs. Horowitz,
her daughter says,
"would have done any-
thing to get to us (from
beyond the grave)."
The encounter was at
first frightening. "It did
scare me, coming into
contact with the other
side," Mrs. Strausz says.
But she has since met up
with a number of friends-
who have had similar
experiences.
"Now it gives me a nice
feeling. Mom was trying
to tell me, 'I'm okay.' "
A member of Temple ,
Emanu-El, Mrs. Strausz
describes herself as spir-
itual, but tarot cards and
seances are hardly her
style. The experience
with the dazzling light
was her first and only in
the realm of the unknow-
able. What she does•
believe in, strongly, is
the afterlife.
"As a girl I asked my
dad, 'What happens
when you die?' and he
said, 'When you're dead,
you're dead.' But I knew
different. I always knew
there was an afterlife.
"When my mother died
I looked at her and real-
ized that wasn't really
her," Mrs. Strausz says.
"I thought: 'There's so
much more beyond the
body. There has to be
more.'
"I don't know exactly
what it is, but I believe
(the afterworld) is a very
peaceful, wonderful
place."