Lea Stern (1933 - 2020)

Lea Stern (לאה שטרן) is the first wife of Eric Leon Levinson, known as Hershel, my 2nd cousin 1x removed. Levinson family HERE

Parents: Dragan Stern (later known as Abraham Stern) and Mira (1911 - ?)

Born: 15 February 1933 in Virovitica, Yugoslavia, now Croatia

Hebrew name: Lair the daughter of Avraham

Sibling

• David Stern, who perished in the Holocaust

Occupation: Nurse and Midwife

Lea as a young woman

Holocaust

Lea and her mother Mira in a List of Surviving Jews in Yugoslavia - June 1945. Lea spent the war in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) and was liberated in December 1944

Married

1) Hershel Levinson on 22 January 1957 in Israel. Hershel was age 29 and Lea was 23

MR. E. L. LEVINSON AND MISS L. STERN

The engagement is announced and the marriage will shortly take place in Israel, of Eric Leon (Hershel), younger son of Mr. and Mrs. Max. Levinson, of 6 Hastings Road, Hillside, Southport, and Liverpool, to Lea, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dragan Stern, of 17 Gaza Street, Jerusalem. They will be returning to England. (Jewish Chronicle 18 January 1957)

Marriage of Hershel and Lea on 22 January 1957

Children

Their only child was born in 1961 when Hershel was 32 and Lea 28

• David M Levinson 1961 -

Lea and her son David (photos courtesy of her son David Levinson)

Electoral Register extracts

1962

In 1962 Hershel and Lea are listed as living at 31 Burnham Road, Liverpool, England

Biography

Lea met Hershel in Liverpool, England. She was living in Jerusalem and had come over to Liverpool gain further experience as a midwife at the Oxford Street Maternity Hospital there. In 1950 she had enrolled at the Henrietta Szold Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Nursing in Jerusalem. Leah chose Liverpool because she had a paternal aunt there, Zdenka Bean, who had married George Bean (later Sir George Bean) in 1953. Their son, David (now the Right Honourable Lord Justice Bean) was born in 1954. Lea and Herzel were married in Jerusalem, Israel, before returning to Liverpool to live and where their son, David, was born in 1961. They divorced around 1965 and Lea and David returned to Israel. She never remarried.

Photos

Lea in later life

Lea and Hershel Levinson in Ness Ziona, Israel in 2013

Death

on 30 June 2020 in Rehovot, Israel age 87. She was buried in the Rehovot Cemetery on 1 July 2020

Tombstone for Lea Levinson

Hebrew translation: "Lea Levinson

Daughter of Abraham and Mira Stern RIP

Died 8th of Tamuz תש"פ

15.02.1933-30.06.2020

“I've lived a life that's full

I traveled each and every highway

And more, much more than this

I did it my way”

Beloved mother, grandmother and midwife"

On the stone is also written "Lea” with the symbol of midwives below. (Thanks to her granddaughter Noga for the tombstone photo and inscription translation)

Residences

At the time of her marriage, Lea's family home was at 17 Gaza Street, Jerusalem, Israel. Azza is the Hebrew name for Gaza. (Google maps photo taken in 2018)

During their marriage, Lea and Hershel lived at 31 Burnham Road, Liverpool, England