Renee DRAIKIN

21 FEB 1929 - 11 JUN 2020

• BIRTH: 21 FEB 1929, Chicago, Cook County, IL
• DEATH: 11 JUN 2020, South Bend, St Joseph, IN

1.  Douglas Paul BRAZY

INDEX

[N34055] Renee Draikin Brazy
Feb. 21, 1929 - June 11, 2020

SOUTH BEND, IN - A lefthander in a righthanded world, Reneé Lenore Draikin Brazy, 91, died June 11, 2020 from Covid-19. She was born on February 21, 1929 in Chicago, to Herman Draikin and Bertha Siperstein Draikin, immigrants from what's now Ukraine and Belarus, respectively. Her preemie sister, Miriam, predeceased her. She grew up in Chicago's South Side among her first cousins, where they learned Double-Dutch jump rope and spent summers at Uncle Hymie's farm in South Haven, MI. She graduated from Lindbloom High School in Chicago and earned her undergraduate degree in teaching from Roosevelt College (now Roosevelt University) in Chicago. She planned to “stay home and raise intelligent children.” She did not stay home. She spent the next 31 years as a teacher. She invented a multimodal approach for learning the alphabet and phonics, which she used in her own teaching. Hundreds of children in Amarillo, TX, Albuquerque, NM, Des Moines, IA, and South Bend, IN learned to read and write in Mrs. Brazy's kindergarten and second grade classes. On June 10, 1959, she married the love of her life, Simon Brazy, in South Bend, following a whirlwind romance where she promised to bake an apple pie every summer. They honeymooned at his boys camp in upstate New York. She earned her Masters of Science in Elementary Education from Indiana University at South Bend while raising four intelligent children and an average dog, teaching school, and cooking dinner every night. After retiring from teaching, she assisted her husband at his travel agency in downtown South Bend. They moved to Scottsdale in 2004. Mrs. Brazy was a world traveler, touring Europe and co-leading tours to China multiple times. She loved shopping wherever she happened to be, which she did into her late 80s until she could no longer drive herself to her favorite spots. She also enjoyed making jewelry and stained glass, and reading cozy novels. She and her husband were charter members of the Indiana Association for Adults and Children with Learning Disabilities and the St. Joseph County Japanese American Friendship Club. She was active in Congregation Beth Ami of Paradise Valley, AZ; Temple Beth El Sisterhood and B'nai Israel Synagogue in South Bend; B'nai B'rith, and the Indiana State Teachers Association. Mrs. Brazy is survived by her loving husband of 61 years, Simon Brazy of Scottsdale; their children, Deena Brazy (Andy Kraushaar) of Madison, WI, Hedy Darnell (Jeff Harrell) of South Bend, IN, Betsy Brazy (John Cartan) of Alameda, CA, and Doug Brazy of Scottsdale, AZ; granddaughters, Melissa Darnell of Edwardsburg, MI and Sarah Cartan of Alameda; grandson, Mathew Darnell of Denver; and great-granddaughter, Alannah Wilburn of Edwardsburg. The family suggests donations to Hospice of the Valley, the Jewish Federation, the National Alliance for Mental Illness and/or Moveon.org. A Zoom service will be at 5 pm EST Sunday. Interment will be at the National Memorial Cemetery in Phoenix.

Arrangements through Messinger Mortuaries in Scottsdale.
Published by South Bend Tribune on Jun. 14, 2020.