Lillian Gordon, mother and artist, dies at 84

Lillian Gordon, a longtime wife, mother and artist, died at home from Alzheimer's disease-related problems and kidney failure on Mother's Day. She was 84 and lived in Atlantic Beach Estates.

Gordon, a mother of three, was a sculptor in wood and stone and did macramé and decoupage.

"She exhibited all over and especially in the local public libraries, and our house looked like a museum -- a nice but well-stocked museum," said her husband of 64 years, Eli Gordon. He added that she taught art on her own.

He said he first met his wife in May 1948, shortly after she graduated from Monroe High School in the East Bronx.

They lived in the Atlantic Beach area since 1957.

"She was creative and a great dresser. Stunning. Highly individualistic, but in the best of taste," said her daughter, Ellen Pickus of Baldwin. "Not only did she create, but she also collected and displayed on her wall such things as antique purses and Japanese kimonos."

Pickus said that while her mother sold some of her work, most of it was kept within the family.

SEE PHOTOSNotable deaths: Long Islanders we recently lost

She also said her parents had a great love affair, "and my dad was devoted to my mother, especially in these last few years when she had gotten very ill."

Her husband said he kept her at home until the end "because that's what she asked me to do."

The family said she was quite active in the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach and at one time was the president of the local chapter of B'nai B'rith.

She also is survived by two sons, Stephen Gordon of Long Beach and Bruce Gordon of Searingtown, and five grandchildren.

A service was held Monday, after which she was buried in the United Hebrew Cemetery in Staten Island.