Evelyn Claire Solomon Cohn

Evelyn Claire Solomon Cohn died on October 26, 2021. She was born in Boston, MA on February 27, 1927, the fifth daughter of Sam and Annie Solomon (who emigrated to America from Poland.) The family relocated when Evelyn was three to the Bronx, NY, where they settled into an apartment in the Pelham Parkway section. Evelyn attended PS 89, Christopher Columbus High School, and Hunter College. She was the first in her family to seek and complete a college degree. Later, she earned two master’s degrees.

Tireless and talented, Mom taught home economics in two different New York City junior high schools, inspiring generations of youngsters to master critical skills that she believed formed a foundation for lives lived independently, and with self-reliance. “The junior high is an experiment in education,” she often said, and she was proud of the work she did with such energy and skill. 

Evelyn Solomon met George Cohn on a paddleball court when they were young teenagers. “I’m going to marry you,” George told her that day. And he did. They raised their children in Whitestone, Queens, in close proximity to extended family. Summers in the Adirondack Mountains punctuated those years, and no one was happier than Mom to knit poolside or lakeside, followed everywhere she went by our calico cat, Missy. 

Mom relished the water and the woods, music, art, and a solid, satisfying mystery. She swam, danced, and hiked with equal enthusiasm and was a peerless cook, baker, and party maker. She loved her family as one loves air; it was a feeling inseparable from that of being alive. First came her family of origin, her parents and four vivacious, glorious sisters, Lily, Ruth, Giddie, and Millie. And then came us: her husband, George, the childhood sweetheart she cherished all her life; his death nineteen years ago and the long illness that preceded it left a hole in Mom’s heart that never healed, for theirs was a lifelong love affair; son Stuart, his wife Melanie, and their son, Jeremiah; daughter Amy, her husband, Seth Berman, and their daughter, Rosie, and son, Axi. 

Beautiful, capable, always curious, tons of fun, the wisest woman in any room, and the strongest person we will ever know, we were so lucky to hold her close these last six years when she returned to her roots in Massachusetts

She leaves behind dozens of extended family members – nieces and nephews of all ages, and her Kramer cousins.  In her memory please consider a donation to further progress in three areas she cared so much about: the Essex County Greenbelt, WCRB-FM, or the Perkins Library. 

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