June Charlotte Lustig

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June Charlotte Lustig sang her way through 94 years of life including taking a request for her signature lullaby,"I love you truly-uly" the day before she died.
Surrounded by her children on Mother's Day she passed away unexpectedly shorty after on May 10, 2022.

June had an incredible wit and great comedic timing. She also had a tremendous capacity to love. 
Born on September 23, 1927 in Newark, NJ to Max and Irene Gardner, June spent 81 years in Syracuse NY after her family relocated during the Great Depression. 
June graduated from Highland Manor, an all-girls school in West Long Branch NJ in 1945, just before the end of WW2. Her yearbook caption describes her as kind and elegant and can be be found on the porch playing bridge or going to New York with friends to see a patriotic Broadway play. After attending her freshman year at Syracuse University, 
June married fellow freshman Carl Lustig, a decorated WW2 Air Force pilot eight years her senior, partly because she thought he looked like Gary Cooper, her favorite movie star. They were married for 56 years. 

June's brisket was famous and only now that she's passed is it ok to share her secret: "Bennett's Chili Sauce, wink wink!"
There wasn't a visit to June’s home without her special chicken soup (her mother’s recipe still secret) and a box of half-moon cookies waiting for her grandchildren.
Apple picking, golf, hikes at Chittenango Falls and drives through the countryside or to Skaneateles were some of her favorite family outings.
Playing cards, tennis and golf were her pastimes--volunteering at the hospital and for various political groups were her ways of giving back. 

Once she got a landline, June visited with friends and family on the phone almost every day, saying "hold the wire" if she needed to step away from the call for a brief moment. 
She never forgot a birthday, graduation or special anniversary. If any of her children or grandchildren were suffering in the love department 
she quickly assured them, "there's always another cutie around the corner!"

June was a movie fan of the films and broadway plays of the Golden Age. Many Saturday afternoons were spent at the movies and even at 90 June could recall the stars of most Golden Age films and musicals and the name,melody, and lyrics of a famous song from those films. She loved playing the piano music and singing classic songs from the 1920’s to 1950’s. “Always” by Irving Berlin was a favorite as was “If I Loved You” and most other Rodgers and Hammerstein songs. 
Toward the end of her life, when she wasn't singing, or reading--she was genuinely curious, caring, and very funny. She loved being 94 while believing she was 27!

June will be laid to rest next to her beloved mother Irene, father Max and husband Carl on the top of the hill at Temple Adath Yeshurun cemetery in Syracuse, NY.
We imagine she's sung her way to heaven with another favorite, Frank Sinatra's timeless ballad, "Softly, as I leave you."

June is survived by her children Michael Lustig (Nini) of Lake Bluff, IL, And Susan Bodley (John) of Fayetteville, NY; her grandchildren Jackie Pilon (Brad) of Elm Grove, WI, Renae Kochel (Travis) of Woodinville, WA, Audrey Michal (Matt) of Beverly Hills, MI, Adam Cauger of Schenectady, NY, Ingrid Lustig of Cambridge, MA, and Reid Lustig Lake Bluff, IL; and great grandchildren Max Michal, Theo Pilon, Mason Kochel, Auggie Pilon, and Molly Michal.

June is pre-deceased by her husband Carl Lustig in 2003, her brother Elmer Gardner in 2007, and her grandson Max Lustig in 1993.

Graveside services will be at 1PM on Sunday, May 15 in the Temple Adath Yeshurun Cemetery. 

Tribute donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.