HANOVER, NH — Arline (Breindel) Silverman died on February 1, 2019 after a long illness at the age of 82 in the Memory Care Unit, the Gardens, at her home in Wheelock Terrace in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Arline was born on August 24 th , 1936 the second of three daughters of Shirley and Irving Breindel in New York City. A first generation American, Arline grew up speaking both English and Yiddish in a close-knit neighborhood in the Bronx. She told of stories of yelling up to her grandmother in the apartment building, hungry for food, who would then lower a piece of bread covered in schmaltz (chicken fat) by a string to the waiting girl. Growing up, she was called Honey (a nickname of her Hebrew name Chana) which extended family still refer to her as.
Arline attended Hunter College in New York City for both her Bachelor’s in Hebrew Education and her Master’s in Education. While still in school, she met the love of her life, Charles (Charlie) Silverman, and got married in New York City in August of 1958. Arline worked as an elementary school teacher in the Bronx for the next several years, hiding her pregnancies for at the time, a school teacher was not allowed to work and be pregnant at the same time. In 1965, she and Charlie and their two small children moved to Dover, Delaware (so Charlie could work at Playtex in their tax department) where they would build a life and she would live until her illness in 2015.
Arline spent almost the next half a century integrating herself into the fabric of life in Delaware. She had another child and spent time as an at-home mom before returning to school at Delaware Tech. There she learned fiscal skills she shared with her husband and went to work for the IRS as an employee in the Federal Building in Dover for many years. She worked with people in their homes on their taxes and knew the back roads of Delaware and Eastern Maryland like the “back of her hand.”
Arline dedicated much of her life to the study and practice of Judaism and to her religious institution, Congregation Beth Sholom of Dover, Delaware. She was a religious school teacher at Beth Sholom for over forty years; was a vital member of the Sisterhood and did just about anything else at the synagogue there was to do. Many of what would become her long-time friends were also members of the synagogue, transplants to Dover from large cities, raising their families together. Arline was also a major collector of dreidels, fine-tuning this hobby into retirement and having several display cases which she loved to show off.
From her Thursday night supper club to going to plays and musicals at the Dupont Theatre and Playhouse in Wilmington to annual Passover Seders, Arline was generous with her time and was a devoted friend. If you were Arline’s friend, you were her friend for life.
But most of all, Arline loved and cherished the time she spent with her family. She is predeceased by her parents, her husband Charlie, her son David and her two sisters Annette and Gail. Arline leaves behind her daughter Rhonda and son-in-law Alan Siegel of New Hampshire and her son Jeffrey and daughter-in-law Sigal Silverman of Pennsylvania. The joys of her last twenty plus years came from her six grandchildren. She was in the front row with a big smile for dance recitals and gymnastic shows, bar and bat mitzvahs and anything else where she could get a glimpse of her kids. Her house and later apartment were plastered with pictures of grandchildren and only grandchildren. Arline is survived by her grandchildren Ariel, Raina, Shoshana and Leora Siegel and Charlie and Sabrina Silverman.
Arline will be interred in the Jewish Community Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware on Foulk Road with a graveside service to take place on Tuesday morning, February 5 th at 10 a.m. Memorial contributions can be made in her honor to Congregation Beth Sholom, 340 North Queen Street, Dover, Delaware 19904.
Arline’s family wishes to thank the wonderful staff of the Memory Unit, the Gardens at Wheelock Terrace in Hanover, New Hampshire, her residence for the last three and a half years. Their dedication, kindness, expertise and support to both Arline and her family is beyond words.