Anita Lester Obituary

Millbrook - Anita Lester died peacefully on Tuesday morning, April 15, 2025.

Anita was born on March 10, 1928, in the Bronx, New York. She moved with her parents to Monticello, NY as a teenager. She was the youngest of three children to Hyman and Rose Schaffer.

Anita met the love of her life, Edwin "Skip" Lester as a young teenager when they lived near each other (and the zoo) in the Bronx. In High School her family moved to the Catskills where her parents ran a hotel called the Dandy House. Anita worked as a telephone operator in Monticello after graduating High School, and after World War II began she went to live in NYC while her love was in the war.

She married the love of her life, Skip, in 1947; they were married for 72 years. They initially lived in Troy, NY as Skip got his engineering degree at RPI; and they then moved to Washington, D.C. where they both worked at the Patent Office during the day and Skip attended law school at night. Their first child, a son, was born in 1952. They eventually settled in Poughkeepsie, NY, and they had three more children while Skip started his long career as a Patent Attorney at IBM. Ultimately they moved to the Fountains at Millbrook in 2016 where they lived for the rest of their lives.

Anita was deeply involved in the Poughkeepsie community. Whether she was a Girl Scout Troop Leader or the President of American ORT, she worked tirelessly to enhance her family's lives as well as the community. She sat on the Executive Board of the Jewish Community Center, she helped form a ladies' golf league, and she was one of the original members of CLS (Continuing Lifetime Studies at Marist). Besides raising her children and participating in a variety of activities, she found time to go back to school and earned her associate's degree in Humanities from Dutchess Community College in 1980 at age 52.

In all her spare time, Anita loved to socialize with other people in a variety of activities like golf, bowling, and especially bridge. She was a patron of the arts and enjoyed both regional theatre as well as Broadway shows. She was an avid reader and got involved in local politics. Anita and Skip also had the opportunity to travel all over the world, and in their later years they became snowbirds and traveled to California to spend time with their West Coast family and get to truly know their grandchildren While Anita loved all of her pets, her true passion was family and nothing gave her more pleasure when family would gather together for weddings, birthdays, and especially Mother's Day.

Anita is survived by her daughter Caryn Sussin and her husband Mark, her son David and his wife Sandi, her daughter Judy Litt and her husband Lloyd, her adoring grandchildren Michael and wife Elana, Sam and wife Antara, Lauren, Sydney, and Jackson, and her nieces and nephew Marla, Karen, and Stewart and their spouses. She was predeceased by her brothers Leo Schaffer and Sidney Schaffer, her son Steven, nephew Martin Kocivar, and niece Barbara Barnett.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday April 19 at 10:00 a.m. at Joseph Darrow Funeral Home located at 39 S. Hamilton Street, Poughkeepsie, New York. Anita will be buried in a family plot on Long Island next to her beloved husband and son Steven, and in lieu of flowers please send donations to the Jewish Federation or Mid Hudson Hospice. The family would like to thank the Jewish Federation for their amazing weekly Shabbat services at the Fountains and Mid Hudson Hospice for its outstanding care services, for their kindness, and for being there to the end with Anita.