Celia (Piltch) Primack, 94, a long-time resident of Haverhill who was born in Lawrence on Jan. 1, 1922, died peacefully Saturday morning, May 28, in North Andover after a long decline.
The daughter of the late Harry and Mary (Prolman) Piltch, Primack grew up with her three sisters in Lawrence. She remembers that while the family had little money, “We always offered hospitality for everyone, including strangers.” She graduated from Lawrence High School in 1939, the same year, she would fondly recall, that she was named “Sweetheart of AZA,” a Lawrence Jewish boys’ organization. She met her future husband, Dr. Joseph E. Primack, at Salisbury Beach and, in 1942, they began a marriage that would last 62 years. After several years in Boston, the couple purchased a house on Rutherford Avenue in Haverhill that would become their home for nearly 60 years. Even as she raised two boys, she would occasionally work as a receptionist in her husband’s dental office in downtown Haverhill, where she managed to use a manual typewriter without damaging the long finger nails of which she was so proud. The Primack family also spent decades of happy summers in “The Primshack,” their four-room cottage at Salisbury Beach. She and Joe moved to the Edgewood Retirement Community in North Andover in 2002, where she remained after her husband’s death in 2004. Active with Temple Emanu-El, Haverhill, Primack was a Life Member of Hadassah and a member of the Temple Sisterhood and Ladies Helping Hand Society. She also volunteered with the Haverhill Jewish Scholarship Loan Association and Friends of the Haverhill Public Library
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Besides her sons, Dr. William A. Primack and his wife Cathy of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Phil Primack and his wife Nancy of Medford, she leaves her sisters Eve Glick of Brookline and Ida Goldberg and her husband David of Peabody. Her sister Ruth Grossman preceded her in death. She is also survived by a grandson, Daniel Primack and his wife Jennifer of Southborough; a great-granddaughter, Emma Josephine Primack; and several nieces and nephews and their children.
Her funeral service was Sunday, May 29 at H.L. Farmer & Sons Funeral Home, 106 Summer St., Haverhill, followed by internment next to her husband in the Children of Israel Cemetery in, Haverhill. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Dr. Joseph and Celia Primack Fund of Temple Emanu-El, 514 Main St., Haverhill, MA 01830, or, The Jewish Scholarship Loan Assoc., s c/o. Temple Emanu-El, 514 Main St., Haverhill, MA 01830.