Sylvia Yassi

Sylvia (nee Bondar). February 23, 1926 - February 23,2023. Devoted wife of the late Samuel Yassi. Loving mother of Esther Yassi (Steve Unger), Norma Braccia (Joseph), and the late Rosa Yassi. 

Born in Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine), she was taken out of school in the 8th grade to work in a bomb factory during WWII to help support her blind mother and 4 siblings while her father was fighting with the Russian army. 

At age 19, she met Samuel Yassi (Yasinowski). They were married 6 weeks later and left Russia to make their way to Sam’s aunt and uncle in America. They rode box cars and walked through the Alps into Italy where they spent 3 years in a Displaced Persons Camp waiting for the paperwork to allow them to come to America. 

In 1947, still living in the DP camp, barely  knowing the language, she had her first child, Esther. 

In 1949, Sam, Esther and she finally made their way to America, living in Souderton, PA with relatives at first then moving on to live and work in the area. 

Life was not easy for Sylvia but you rarely saw her without a smile. She taught herself English, worked, raised 3 daughters, helped run her husband’s custom home building business, cooked, baked, cleaned, sewed clothes for herself and her children, gardened and was always available to help a neighbor, friend or family member. With all that, she still found time to read many, many books, listen to music, and knit. 

Sylvia’s life has come full circle. She quietly passed on her 98th birthday surrounded by her remaining two daughters and their husbands.

Relatives and friends are invited to funeral services, Monday February 26, 2024, at 11:30 AM precisely at Goldsteins’ Rosenberg’s Raphael Sacks, Suburban North, 310 2^nd Street Pike, Southampton, PA. Interment at Shalom Memorial Park, Huntingdon Valley, PA. Contributions in her memory may be made to Mitzvah Circle www.mitzvahcircle.org