Obituary of Florence Rabbin

Florence Rabbin, 96 passed away peacefully on Monday January 16, 2012 Flo (Siegel) Rabbin was born in Bronx, NY, the first of three children, to Rae (Ackerman) and Israel (aka: Willie) Siegel on June 4, 1915. Following a happy childhood on the hilly streets of the Bronx, she graduated High School with the designation as the one who would "Mostly Likely Succeed on Broadway". Unfortunately, the depression hit hard and she instead went to work as a bookkeeper in midtown Manhattan. For decades, her family would rent a room each summer at Rockaway Beach. It was there on the Boardwalk that she met her future husband and loving father of her children, Jack Rabbin, of East New York in Brooklyn. Their romance continued for years, though they lived over an hour apart by subway. They got married on Oct. 22, 1938 and moved into an attic apartment in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, where Jack opened his Podiatric Medicine practice. In 1950, they bought a single-family home nearby where they raised their two sons, Carl (b.1950) and Robert (b.1957). As not only a devoted mother and wife, but also a true force within her own right, by the mid-1960's Florence became the President of a worthwhile non-profit known as "The Big E for Epilepsy". By brokering Broadway show tickets and short vacation packages among "hundreds" of her closest friends, this organization donated many thousands of dollars to NYC hospitals and funded research to cure Epilepsy in their time. Jack, only half-jokingly, referred to her as the "Mayor of Flatbush". They had a subscription to the Metropolitan Opera and Flo saw virtually every show to hit Broadway for over 30 years. In 1988, they retired to Florida to live near her brother (Morty) and sister (Claire). After 15 years in Florida, however, she needed to be closer to her children, which brought her first to Kingsway in Schenectady and then to the Eddy-Ford Nursing Home in Cohoes where she enjoyed her last years being, as usual, the life of the party. Though her husband, Jack, pre-deceased her, as did brother Morty and most of her friends, her caring sister, Claire Scafa, survives her, as does her loving children and their families, namely Carl and Toby Rabbin of Olney, Maryland and Robert and Linda Rabbin of Altamont, New York and their respective children. Services at the Levine Memorial Chapel, 649 Washington Avenue Albany, NY on Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 12 noon. Interment will follow in the Prospect Hill Cemetery in Guilderland, NY. Memorial contributions may be made to the Activities Department at the Eddy Village Green,421 Columbia Street, Cohoes, NY 12047.