By Shirley Gordon, Penny Lewis and the Cape Cod Mah Jongg Group
“Have fun every day”, were words that our dear friend, Jill Hecsh Levine, lived by.
Jill was a happy upbeat person with a personality that just drew people to her, and whatever she did, she did to the utmost, no skimping for her! Creative, outspoken, honest and a great “doer”, she organized and ran many successful parties, events, and fund raisers. If she was organizing it, you not only wanted to be there, you wanted to help. Jill had a deep passion for life, for people, and for having fun. As we remember, Jill frequently said, “I’m the luckiest girl in the world”.
An avid reader, with a commanding vocabulary, she loved to play games… Scrabble, Words with Friends, and Mah Jongg. She was competitive and loved to win! Her winning attitude served her well from the day she was diagnosed, as she immediately set out to “beat cancer”! Right until the very end, she never quit. Our dear friend Jill passed away on April 18, 2014, on her 61st birthday.
When a bright, beautiful, blonde dynamo, in the prime of her life, died too soon, our small Cape Cod community was moved to action. Jill was a founding member of our weekly Mah Jongg game. To honor her memory, in a way we know she would have liked, her friends began hosting Mah Jongg Madness, an annual all-day Mah Jongg event, luncheon, and fundraiser for Pancreatic Cancer Research. We invite the wider community of local Mah Jongg players, who are thrilled to participate in this worthy cause. As we play and laugh, we continue to hold Jill close in our hearts, see the bright twinkle in her eyes, and hear her remind us “not to gloat” when we win a hand. After all, it’s about friendship, being together, having fun, and celebrating a life well lived.
In this second year, we were able to donate over $1000 to the Hirshberg Pancreatic Research Foundation in loving memory of Jill. It has been a labor of love and a fun day for everyone involved.