The following was published on the Menorah Chapels at Millburn website and was shared with Village Green by Stanley Varon.
Francine Varon lost her battle with cancer on April 1, 2024. But, as with everything Fran did, she gave it a hell of a fight!
Francine Ella Gorenstein was born in the Bronx on February 7, 1946, to Samuel and Jennifer (Wigdorovich) Gorenstein. Jennifer died when Fran was two years old. Fran’s father was remarried three years later to Nettie Kalkstein, a holocaust survivor, who raised her. Fran’s strength in facing these early challenges became a defining characteristic of her life. As friends and family recollected at her memorial service, a standing-room-only celebration of her life at Menorah Chapels in Union on April 2nd, Fran was one of the toughest people and one of the fiercest fighters anyone had ever known. From teaching at PS 85 in the Bronx throughout her 30-year career, to beating cancer twice, to defending our democracy and combating the rise of anti-semitism, Fran never shied away from a fight. Though she was not tall in stature, Fran’s courage and conviction made her an outsized presence and a force to be reckoned with.
Fran earned a BA with a Major in Political Science in 1968. Despite the fact that she and her future husband Stanley went to the same High School, graduated the same year, and then went to the same college both and majoring in Poli Sci, they did not meet until many years later in 1981. Stan and Fran were married in 1982 and moved to Maplewood the next year, where they raised their son Sam. Fran was an active presence in the Maplewood community, and was a familiar face at the Maplewood Library, where she worked in the children’s room for ten years.
Fran leaves behind her husband, Stanley, son, Samuel, loads of cousins and scores of friends. Donations can be sent to Maplewood Library Foundation, 129 Boyden Avenue, Maplewood, New Jersey, 07040, or online at https://www.maplewoodlibraryfoundation.org/ or SOMA Action, https://www.somaaction.org/, the local political organization where she was an engaged member and volunteer. If there was anything Fran would want you to remember it’s to use your voice to speak truth to power and, most importantly, vote!
Francine Varon
