Obituaries
The Hebrew Benevolent Society
(Chesed Shel Emes)
will hold
Obituaries are updated regularly and archived on JN Online:
www. d etro itj ewishnews.corn
MEMORIAL DAY SERVICES
Sunday, May 27 at 12 p.m.
at the Veterans Section of their cemetery
Family And Politics
DAVID SACHS
Copy Editor
Gratiot Avenue at 14 Mile Road
with the participation of Jewish War Veterans Department of
Michigan and Women's Auxiliary.
TOM TANNIS, DEPARTMENT CHAPLAIN will officiate.
Families, Relatives and Friends are invited to attend.
ii
lthough she stood only 4
feet 10, Hannah Levin
Gladstone loomed large as
big sister to two members of
Congress — sharing a fire for politics
and love of family.
Mrs. Gladstone, 73, of Seattle, died
May 16 of congestive heart failure Over
the years she assisted the campaigns of
her brothers, Rep. Sander Levin, D-
Royal Oak, and Sen. Carl Levin, D-
Mich., and served as "mother hen" for
the extended Levin family
"Hannah's influence on us was never
subtle at all," said Carl Levin. "It was
very direct and very blunt. She knew
how to tell her brothers straight what
was on her mind.
"She was very much a part of every
campaign. Sometimes as a volunteer,
other times as our key adviser."
Mrs. Gladstone handled outreach to
ethnic communities for Sander Levin's
campaigns for governor in 1970 and
1974, and Carl Levin's elections to the
Detroit City Council and then the U.S.
Senate in 1978. Her late husband, Bill
Gladstone, was chairman of the 17th
District Democratic Party in northwest
Detroit in the 1960s.
"She had an inexhaustible ability ro
make friends," said Sander Levin. 'She
was our goodwill ambassador without
portfolio.
"Hannah was scrappy, feisty — she
was the best trooper of us all."
Mrs. Gladstone also worked in con-
stituent services for _James Blanchard
when he was a congressman and was
later appointed by Govs. Blanchard and
John Engler to the Social Justice
Committee in Lansing. She also served
on the board of the Metropolitan
Detroit Chapter of the American Jewish
Committee.
Rabbi Irwin Groner of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek, who spoke at her funer-
al, said Mrs. Gladstone "brought person-
al and vivid meaning to the word 'serv-
ice."' She advanced the work of many
institutions and causes in the communi-
ty — including teaching at Sill
Elementary School in Detroit.
"That school is in an area of poverty
and depravation," said Rabbi Groner.
"Hannah Gladstone saw this assignment
as an opportunity, a challenge ... to ele-
vate the quality of life for those who
have been denied so much."
Mrs. Gladstone valiantly fought off
!ung cancer in the early 1970s, and went
01 to assist with public relations at the
HEBREW MEMORIAL PARK
HAROLD GREENSPAN
President
RABBI JOSEPH HIRSCH
Secretary
RABBI AVIE SHAPIRO
Vice President
A.M. SILVERSTEIN
MILTON DUCHAN
MARTIN LEDERMAN
Trustees
SAUL WEINGARDEN
Vice President
LAWRENCE TRAISON
Treasurer
Hannah Levin Gladstone
Gershenson Radiation Oncology Center
at the Detroit Medical Center (DMC),
inspiring others to overcome cancer.
"She did an awful lot of good for
other people and never bothered to take
credit," said Dr. Vainutis Vaitkevicius,
interim president of the Karmanos
Cancer Institute at the DMC.
Mrs. Gladstone was very open with
her emotions and became the confidante
for her extended family, said Rabbi
Groner. She moved to Arizona in the
mid-1960s for health reasons and later to
Seattle to be near her two daughters and
three grandchildren. She died three days
before grandson Daniel's bar mitzvah.
At the funeral, held two days after the
bar mitzvah, Rabbi Groner read remarks
Mrs. Gladstone had written for her
grandson's celebration:
"What one values in life is so impor-
tant. And there is none more important
in my mind than the value of family ...
Family is of value to me more precious
than gold and cannot be bought or
sold."'
Said her brother, Sander, "The family
was her world, but the world was her
family"
Mrs. Gladstone is survived by her
daughters and sons-in-law, Debbie
Gladstone and Brian Bursell of Seattle,
Judi Gladstone and Allen Otto of
Edmonds, Wash.; grandchildren, Aaron,
Daniel and Libby Otto and brothers
and sisters-in-law, Congressman Sander
and Vickie Levin and Sen. Carl and
Barbara Levin.
She was the beloved wife of the late
William Gladstone.
Interment was at Clover Hill Park
Cemetery. Contributions may be made
to Karmanos Cancer Institute, 110 E.
Warren, Detroit, MI 48201.
Arrangements by Ira Kaufman
Chapel. El
CHARLES SNOW
Cemetery Chairman
RABBI BORUCH E. LEVIN
Executive Director
MILTON KLEIN, P.D.C.
J.W.V. Chairman
HERMAN SHERLINE
J.W.V. Dept Commander
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