Obituary of Shoshana Prezant Kregarman

Shoshana Kregarman passed away on Thursday, March 2nd in Denver.  She was 73.  Shoshana was born on October 29, 1949 in Haifa, Israel to Henry and Esther Wolff, survivors of the Shoah.  She had the fondest memories of the house on the hill overlooking the magnificent Haifa gardens and bay. Flashes of shelling and gunfire lit the house at night, however. The family moved to Denver when Shoshana was 8 and she entered the third grade with no English.  She graduated from George Washington High in 1968 and went on to nursing school.  According to her wishes, she was buried on a hill in Jerusalem on Wednesday March 8th.  Between these two high and lovely hills, Shoshanna created a beautiful Jewish life as a mother, wife, grandmother, great-grandmother, radiologist, bookkeeper, artist, and community leader.  

Living on another hill above the sea in Monterrey, California, Shoshana gave birth to her son David Prezant from her first marriage to Robert Prezant z tl.  She worked as a radiologist and, in her free time, worked with Holocaust survivors and, as she did in Denver, organized groups to aid people coping with life-threatening illnesses such as kidney cancer.   Shoshana and Bob moved back to Denver in 1981.  Soon after their return, Robert passed away from cancer and Shoshana raised David alone.

True to form, she rose to the challenge, teaching herself to skate so that she could teach David ice hockey—to help him with the grieving process.  As a child of survivors, Shoshana had her own grieving to do and so she organized second-generation groups and commissioned incredible works of memorial art. She worked as a bookkeeper for her parents’ business, A1 Auto Electric, and later as a financial officer at several synagogues.

Twenty three years ago, Shoshana married John Kregarman, and together they grew as community leaders, John at BMH-BJ and in his support of Jewish hospital patients and Shoshana at the Synagogue Council, which she headed for ten years, spearheading Passover and Shabbat food drives for every segment of the community.  She learned to appreciate opera (maybe not Wagner, though) from John, a music scholar and John learned to admire her amazing artisanship in every aspect of life from quilting to picture-perfect Shabbat tables. Together, they were hands-on parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents to a growing brood, with Shoshana traveling to Japan at one point to care for a great-grandchild.

While living this active and productive life, Shoshana coped with daily physical pain, often spending nights without sleep. With Buzz Hahn z”tl  Shoshana spent 10 years collecting clothing, bedding, and food for Ethiopin refuges who had entered Israel. Shoshana and Buzz made the trip several times a year to distribute these goods.    

Along with many great-grandchildren, Shoshana is survived by her loving husband John, her son David Prezant, her grandsons Deven Robert Prezant and Jackson Robert Prezant and John’s granddaughters Melissa Kregarman Louis and Nadine Kregarman Louis.