Lillian DeWaal was a remarkable woman who overcame the loss of a daughter and serious  other challenges to become a very successful student at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in the later years of her life, majoring in English literature.

Lillian was born in Brooklyn, NY on September 4, 1928. Her parents were immigrants from Lithuania. Her dad Isidore died early in her life, and she was principally raised by her widowed mother, Sophie Jaffe, in Borough Park in Brooklyn, NY, along with two brothers, Abraham and Edward, and sister, Rose. Her household was not financially well-off, but they managed with what they had.

Lillian met John DeWaal, her future husband, by total happenstance at a dance, while the ship on which he served, the USS Apollo, was docked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during WWII. Lillian was Jewish, but John was raised Mormon. However, Sophie fully supported her daughter’s marriage to John (contrary to the convention of the time) and witnessed it in person at the Brooklyn Municipal building.

After their marriage John and Lillian first lived in Brooklyn and then California (near John’s family), before moving back to Brooklyn. There, they had two children, Ian and Gary, before moving to Long Island around 1957. In 1960, daughter Leslie was born. Unfortunately, Leslie was born with a congenital heart defect which required ongoing medical treatment; she ultimately died in December 1965 after a pioneering surgery to correct the defect failed. Leslie’s care was very expensive and emotionally demanding. The household struggled financially during Leslie’s life and for years afterwards.

Lillian suffered mightily from the loss of her daughter and was emotionally compromised for some time – despite the loving support of her family and friends. Finally, she decided to pursue her love of reading, by enrolling in college and formally studying literature, as a means of moving forward. She enrolled part-time at Nassau Community College and received an associate’s degree. Afterwards she matriculated to SUNY Stony Brook. (“SUSB”).  For many years, this path proved very successful.
She was awarded a bachelor’s degree in English Literature, Summa Cum Laude. in June 1971.  She continued to pursue her new passion, receiving a Master of Arts in English Literature, in May 1972.

Lillian completed her course work prerequisites for a PhD in English literature and was well on her way to completing her dissertation on Virginia Woolf when, in 1978, the ghosts of her daughter’s death slowly re-haunted her, increasingly interfering with both her academic studies and daily life. Her mental and physical state steadily deteriorated until she died on February 21, 1994.

Lillian’s happiest years of life were as a SUSB student where she realized her dream of formally studying literature under the tutelage of a great English Department faculty. The Lillian DeWaal Scholarship was established by her son Gary and her family as a testament to her endurance, perseverance, and her love of literature, with the hope that the financial assistance provided under the Scholarship would help similarly situated and motivated students to pursue their love of traditional literature.