Our mother Lilly Salcman (Salamon), born Lilly Rapaport, passed away peacefully on June 4, at age 101.
Born on September 28, 1922 in Khust, Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine), she lived an extraordinary life that took her from Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi concentration camp, to the Appalachian foothills. With her first husband, Dr, Alexander Salamon, she had two daughters—Dr. Suzanne Salamon, a physician, and Julie Salamon, a writer. Dr. Salamon practiced medicine in Seaman, Ohio from 1953 until his death in 1971.
Lilly remarried four years later, to Arthur Salcman, her husband for 35 years until he died in 2010.
During World War II, she was incarcerated at Auschwitz, where her parents and one of her two brothers were killed. Her older sisters had escaped to the land that became Israel. She never forgot the past but always moved forward.
Lilly was the subject of articles, books, medical essays and poems and shared her experiences with many school, church and synagogue groups.
She traveled to 18 countries, five continents, 40 states and lived in 10 places, including Czechoslovakia; Poland; New York; St. Petersburg, Florida; Seaman, Ohio; Old Saybrook, Connecticut. and Brookline, Massachusetts.
In Adams County, she ran her husband Dr. Alexander Salamon’s medical office and managed their dairy farm. Eventually, she became (unofficially) Lilly Inc. and expanded into real estate and the stock market. She cut coupons with one hand and business deals with the other. She once said she was like a cat with nine lives and those lives were large.
Her beloved survivors, in addition to Suzanne and Julie, are her sons-in-law, Alan Einhorn and Bill Abrams; stepchildren Michael and Ilene Salcman; grandchildren Alex and Richie Smith, David Einhorn, Roxie Salamon-Abrams and Graeme Daubert, Eli Salamon-Abrams, Josh and Jennifer Salcman, and Dara Salcman; and great-grandchildren Ruby and Jerri Smith; Olivia, Andrew and Jack Salcman.
Lilly was laid to rest in private Graveside Service in Boston, where she has lived for the last four years with Suzanne and Alan. She is buried next to Alexander Salamon, her first husband, and her brother Joseph Rapaport, all survivors of the Holocaust.
