Remembering Aunt Selly

Two weeks ago I lost a very special friend. Hundreds of people thought of her as their special friend as well — I should say relative because, Selma Weber was known as Aunt Selly to all who knew her.

The first time I met Aunt Selly, I was at Aviva and David Weber’s house for their daughter Daniella’s birthday party. In through the door came Aunt Selly like The Cat in the Hat. She had two huge bags in each hand loaded with goodies. She greeted everyone with a warm hello and a hug and she had the biggest smile and twinkle in her eyes I have ever seen. Selma Weber a”h, was David’s aunt. She was David’s father’s sister and, just like her brother Irwin, she was charismatic and full of fun, always the life of the party. Her sister-in-law Esther Weber became her “sister,” and she spent all yomim tovim with them and their growing family of kids and grandchildren.

Although Aunt Sellly never married and never had kids of her own, she had more “kids” than anyone could imagine. You see, everyone wanted a piece of her. I started calling her Aunt Selly; I wanted to think of her as my aunt. Little did I know that everyone else had the same idea.

There were hundreds of people at her funeral, most of them referring to her as Aunt Selly. There were little kids, teens, people in their 20s, 30s and so on. Everyone was telling Aunt Selly stories and tearing up. I thought only I was treated like her niece all these years, but in reality so was everyone who came to know her. She was transcendently brilliant in her capacity to understand each of us individually in the most profound manner. I was a bit insulted to think I was one of hundreds. She had the ability to make everyone feel special, loved and cared about. It amazed me the way she touched all these people.