obituaries »
Obituaries from page 67
Courage And Optimism
Stacy Gittleman | Contributing Writer
A
my Harvey, 43, of West
At her funeral, longtime friend and
Bloomfield, died on Sept. 29,
employer Linda Reynolds of Rochester
2016, after a courageous seven- eulogized Amy, describing her as a
year and two-month battle
woman with a metic-
with stage 3C ovarian cancer.
ulous work ethic and
Ever since her diagnosis,
a golden soul.
Amy was determined to make
“I knew Amy since
every day count and proved
she was 18 years
this not only through her
old and babysat for
devotion as a wife and moth-
my own daughters,”
er but also as an active mem-
Reynolds said. “From
ber of the Jewish community
that time on, I knew
and an advocate and lobbyist
she was destined to be
on the state and national level
an incredible mother.
for legislation to make health-
Amy was the ultimate
care companies cover the cost
optimist, and she had
of oral chemotherapy.
no intention of letting
Amy was born in
this disease take over
Amy Harvey
Rochester, N.Y., on Dec. 17,
her life. It was this
1973. She is survived by her
optimism that gave
husband, Peter Harvey; son,
her more time on this
Benjamin Harvey; parents,
Earth.”
Rona (Eric Dexter) Stein and Leonard
When Amy moved to Michigan, she
(Anna) Stein and by many other family
immediately became involved in her
members and friends.
new community. Amy volunteered at
Amy was a graduate of St. John Fisher her son’s Sheiko Elementary School in
College in Rochester and worked for
West Bloomfield, where she was PTO
23 years as a rental consultant for the
treasurer, fundraising chairperson
Rustic Village Apartments of Rochester
and a member of the West Bloomfield
before relocating with her family to
Educational Foundation.
West Bloomfield in 2013.
She immersed herself in congrega-
Peter and Amy married in 2002 and
tional life at Congregation Beth Ahm
adopted Benjamin in 2005.
in West Bloomfield, volunteered with
In 2009, Amy was diagnosed with
Blessings in a Backpack and helped to
stage 3C ovarian cancer when she was
plan community-wide Purim carnivals.
36. At the time of her diagnosis, she
Rabbi Steven Rubenstein of Beth
was told that there was a 50 percent
Ahm said that Amy’s strength — some-
survival rate of two years. But she beat
thing the congregation witnessed over
the odds, surviving seven years after
the course of her illness, is one of the
her diagnosis and living a full life rais-
many things that synagogue members
ing her son, working and volunteering
will remember about her.
in many capacities both in Rochester
“There seemed to be no gap between
and her newly adopted home of West
the time that Amy, Peter and Ben
Bloomfield.
joined Beth Ahm and the moment they
Hundreds of friends and family
became an integral part of our commu-
attended her funeral Sept. 30 at Temple
nity,” Rubenstein said. “Amy’s dedication
Beth El in Rochester, N.Y. Interment
to Jewish life was apparent from the
was at the White Haven Cemetery in
beginning. Amy’s dedication to the truly
Pittsford, N.Y.
important things in life — her family,
A longtime member of the temple,
her friends, her community — is what
Amy served as one of the youngest
made her who she was.”
members of the board of directors in
Amid fighting her cancer, Amy this
the congregation’s 100-year history and
spring traveled to Lansing to ask state
also twice co-chaired its annual Purim
legislators to support SB 625, the “Oral
gala fundraiser, all while undergoing
Chemotherapy Fairness” bill, which
cancer treatment.
would make Michigan a state that
68 October 13 • 2016
Obituaries
ensures equal health care insurance
coverage for both intravenous and oral
chemotherapies. Last spring, she was
prescribed the oral chemotherapy drug
Lynparza, which cost her $3,100 for a
two-week supply.
Kathleen Hardy, a social worker at the
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
center in Farmington Hills, said that
Amy served as a role model and an
inspiration to other young cancer
patients at Karmanos.
“It was important to her that she used
her cancer to motivate and advocate
for others whose oral treatments were
not covered by their health insurance
providers.”
Hardy also noted Amy’s dedication
to Benjamin. No matter how ill she felt,
Amy continued to bring Ben to art ther-
apy classes through the center’s Friends
Like Me program to help him cope with
his mother’s life-threatening illness.
Hardy also said how moving it was
to watch the dedication Peter and Amy
had toward each other and to their son.
“I never heard a woman speak so lov-
ingly about her husband and as a par-
ent, a woman who so consistently pre-
pared her young son for what she would
go through,” said Hardy. “And when art
therapy class was over, Amy would take
Ben off to his karate class.”
In late July, on one of her last
Facebook posts to her friends, she wrote
about marking her “cancerversary,”
the seventh anniversary of her cancer
diagnosis. She declared that she fought
for seven years and that she beat the
odds. She wrote that she beat it by find-
ing the strength to travel to Lansing
and Washington, D.C., to put a face to a
statistic and advocate that Michigan be
the next state where oral chemotherapy
for ovarian cancer is covered by health-
care insurance. She beat it by watching
her son finish elementary school this
spring, followed by an Alaskan cruise.
“Cancer, you listen to me,” she wrote.
“You’re never going to get me down! I
am a fighter from the word go and I am
going to win this war!!! So, I want to
thank everyone for all they have done
for our family and, most importantly,
standing next to me in the fight of my
life.”
*
ELAINE
BENESON, 78, of
Commerce
Township, died
Oct. 4, 2016.
She is survived
by her beloved
husband, Phillip
Beneson
Beneson; daugh-
ter and son-in-
law, Ilene and
Steven Bez; sons and daughters-in-
law, Warren and Karen Beneson,
Steven and Karen Beneson; sister-
in-law, Esther Beneson; grand-
children, Benjamin, Alexandria,
Adam, Ryan and Zachary Beneson,
Shayna (Andrew) Vanuden; great-
grandchild, Austin; many other lov-
ing family members and friends.
Mrs. Beneson was the sister-in-
law of the late Dennis Beneson.
Contributions may be made to
the Friendship Circle, the American
Cancer Society or to a charity
of one’s choice. Interment took
place at Beth El Memorial Park in
Livonia. Arrangements by Dorfman
Chapel.
DR. ALBERT
BLAIZE, 89, of
Orchard Lake,
died Sept. 30,
2016.
He is survived
by his wife of 56
years, Roberta
Blaize
“Bobbie” Blaize;
daughter, Dr.
Nancy Lipko; son
and daughter-in-law, Dr. Gerald
Blaize and DeAndra Thomas;
grandchildren, Joshua, Cary and
Aliza Tresser; sister-in-law, Sharon
Goodman.
Dr. Blaize was the loving brother
of the late Ruth Oberman; the dear
brother-in-law of the late Lester
Oberman and the late Dr. Irving
Goodman.
Interment was at Machpelah
Cemetery. Contributions may
be made to the Alzheimer’s
Association-Greater Michigan
Chapter, 25200 Telegraph Road,
Suite 100, Southfield, MI 48033,
www.alz.org/gmc; or Cure
Alzheimer’s Fund, 34 Washington
St., Suite 200, Wellesley Hills, MA
02481, curealz.org. Arrangements
by Ira Kaufman Chapel.