Rita Cassel

Rita Cassel, 83 years old, the only child of Dora and Shepard Simonson, lived in Astoria the first three years of her life and lived the rest of her life in Flushing.
She attended PS 20, Flushing High School and received her BA from Syracuse University in 1943 and her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1946.
She was active in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Flushing and in the Flushing community. She served on the Board of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Care since 1968,; was Chair of the Neighborhood Advisory Committee of Tesse Home; Recording Secretary of the Queens Network for Intergroup Harmony; Church Delegate to the Queens Network for Peace and Justice; a Life Member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and member of the Board of Democrats for New Politics. She received the first Aaron Weiss Humanitarian Award in 1985.
She was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend.
Her husband of 59 years, Frank Cassel, passed away last year at the age of 93. She is survived by her children Steve Cassel, Geoff Cassel, and Karen Miller; two grandchildren, Dina Furman Lampe and Nicole Farlee; and a great granddaughter Avery Farlee.
In her words, &#8220I’m a people person and in doing all these things, I believe things can happen. But I don’t pretend that any of us can do it alone; we must meet as a community for our own good.”