SARA LERNER Obituary (1916 - 2015) - Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Sara Hammer Lerner, 98, of Rio Rancho, NM, died Saturday, February 28, 2015. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Thursday, March 5 at Louis Memorial Chapel, 6830 Troost Ave followed by burial at Sheffield Cemetery. She was born August 10, 1916 to the late Abe and Esther Hammer, in Kansas City, MO. After graduating from Northeast High School in 1933, she worked as a traveling saleslady for Keller Kosher Foods until she married the late Earl Lerner in 1940. She was a Kansas City area resident until 1990 when she moved to New Mexico where she was an avid elder hostel attendee, a member of the Oasis Singers, a member of the Albuquerque Bio-Park Zoo Boo Board, and a graduate of the Brain Fitness Program. She was an active member of Temple Albert in Albuquerque, NM, a former member of Beth Shalom Synagogue in Kansas City and a lifetime member of Hadassah. She was a longtime volunteer for the Mental Health Association of Johnson County (Outstanding Service Award, Project Breakthrough, 1989), a Democratic poll worker, and a volunteer at Menorah Hospital for a decade. She was an avid basketball fan, following the KU Jayhawks and had a particular fondness for pro player, LeBron James. She loved to cook and feed people. Nothing was more important to her than her family. Sara was preceded in death by her parents, husband, sisters, Flora Bernstein and Min Halpern, brothers, Carl and Morris Hammer, and her beloved daughter, Dr. Shelly Lerner Burstein. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Arnie Lerner and Nancy Harvin of Corrales, NM; nieces, Andrea Plotsky of Atlanta, GA, and Cathy Cardozo of Kansas City; nephews, Steve Hammer and Michael Halpern of Kansas City; four grandchildren, Jonathan Burstein, Berkeley, CA, Jennifer Burstein, Denver, CO, Nicholas Lerner, Lawrence, KS, and Zachary Lerner, Albuquerque, NM; five great-grandchildren, Jonah and Laylah Podwoski-Burstein, Berkeley, CA, Logan and Aiden Miescher-Lerner, Lawrence, KS, and Phoenix Tracer, Albuquerque, NM, plus her grand-dog, Jessie Harvin. The family suggests contributions to Friends of Johnson County Mental Health, 6000 Lamar, Suite 130, Mission, KS 66201