Rebecca Behar Mutal was born October 17, 1927 in the Bronx, N.Y. and passed away April 26, 2013. She was the third of six children to Clavena and Jack Behar, who immigrated to America and resided in New York in the early 1900s, Jack from Turkey and Clavena from the Island of Rhodes. They had four daughters and two sons.
At age 12, Rebecca and her family moved to Burbank, Calif. In her golden years, she spoke fondly of the cross-country drive with her family, and truly loved the sunny California climate.
Rebecca met her late husband Henry (Hank) Mutal, a recently discharged WWII vet, on a blind date set up by his cousins while on vacation in California. They became engaged and were married on February 26, 1949 at Congregation Ezra Bessaroth in Seattle. Two years later, the young family, Hank, Rebecca and baby Sari Jane, relocated to Burbank to be near Rebecca’s family. Rebecca and Hank had two more daughters, Carol Jean and Joyce Ann.
In 1974, Rebecca and Hank moved back to Washington, living on Mercer Island. Rebecca lost Hank in 1990 and moved from their home in 2001. Rebecca worked in their family businesses in California and then in Seattle, at a lunch counter on Fourth Avenue called The Pantry Shelf. Throughout her life, Rebecca also took great joy in cooking, eating, and socializing with those around her.
Rebecca was a wonderful mother and grandmother to Sari (Ron, z”l) Drucker and their children David (Jenny) Drucker and Pamela (Lindsay) Drucker-Mann; Carol (Jeff, z”l) Akrish and their children Mindy (Erik) Matteson, Garrett (Barbi) Hoffman, Joel (Mary Ann) Hoffman, and Ronald Akrish; and Joyce (Larry) Steingold and their children Stephanie (Jason) Bressler, Jonathan Steingold, and Lauren Steingold. In addition, Rebecca had four great grandsons, Levi, Micah, Jacob, and John David and a step-great-granddaughter, Cecilia.
Rebecca survived all her brothers- and sisters-in-law, the Mutals of Seattle and the Behars of Burbank, all from the Great Generation. Rebecca was one of a kind and a truly unique woman throughout her lifetime.
Funeral services were held Sunday, April 28th at the Sephardic Brotherhood Cemetery in Seattle. Remembrances can be made to Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation, Seattle or Overlake Hospital, Bellevue.