The loss of the beloved Goldstein family has struck many members of the Newton community with profound grief. On May 31, over 200 people gathered at the Hyde Community Gym for the Newton Theatre Company’s (NTC) presentation, Remembering the Goldstein Family, honoring the memories of each Goldstein family member as part of the NTC series, The Monologue Project.
During the program, the lives of Lyla, 54, her husband Matthew, 52, and their two children, Valerie, 22, and Violet, 19, reverberated through songs, poems, performances, and messages from their loved ones, neighbors, and community members.
While staying at their vacation home in Wakefield, New Hampshire, on December 25, 2024, the Goldstein family died from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Police had been called to the home after the four did not come to a family gathering, Fig City News previously reported. According to the CDC, “Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless, colorless gas that kills without warning. It claims the lives of hundreds of people every year and makes thousands more ill.”
Program organizers arranged for over 20 tributes dedicated to the Goldstein family, which spanned about three hours. The gym was filled with love and heartbreak, accompanied by laughter and tears on that rainy Saturday night. There weren’t enough chairs to fit in the gym, and many attendees brought beach chairs to sit and listen to the speakers on stage.
“[There’s] something poetic about us being in here, because Lyla was probably the one who was in this gym the most,” said Melissa Bernstein, the NTC artistic director who helped organize the project. “[The Hyde Center] reminds me so much of them, and I feel that they are here with us tonight,” she said.
Matthew, who was an eighth-grade Math teacher at the Edith C. Baker School in Brookline, Valerie, who graduated from Syracuse University last year, and Violet, who was a first-year student at the Rhode Island School of Design, were all involved in productions put on by the NTC. Lyla, who was a principal project manager at Microsoft, didn’t act, but she played basketball at the Hyde Community Gym. “Lyla and I had [a joke] that one day I would get her up on stage, even in a cameo, but she held her ground, that was not her thing,” said Bernstein.
The Goldstein family found ways to be active in their community that brought them closer together as a family. Lyla volunteered as a Girl Scout Troop leader, and Matthew participated in NTC shows to spend more time with their daughters.
One of Matthew and Violet’s co-stars in the NTC production of Junie B. Jones, Hannah Rosenberg Paul, said, “Matt seemed to love spending time with his young daughters in a way that I hadn’t seen a lot of fathers or even mothers do.” She said that now she is a mother and she wants to emulate how Matthew parented in her child’s life, something she said she wished she had the chance to tell him. “I will try my best to honor his and his family’s life in this way. Keep alive the memory of them in this way. I will try my best to bring the Goldstein way of being a family into my home,” said Rosenberg Paul.
Many of Matthews’ students came to share messages about how they have been affected by him as an educator and the impact they have felt since his death. Two brought guitars and sang songs about him, and more than several others wrote and presented heartfelt messages about how he made being in school a positive experience and a safe space to learn and grow.
Following in her father’s footsteps as an educator, Valerie was a fifth-grade teacher in North Carolina after her graduation. Her friends and close ones at the event described Valerie as caring, motivated, and determined to help others. “Valerie has made everyone she’s ever met feel much less alone. […] I feel like she was love personified,” said Jesse King, a friend of Valerie and co-coordinator of the event alongside Keren Cheng Kohane. “Above all, if I had to put just one word besides love on it, she felt like home. Home is where you feel most comfortable, most safe, and that’s how she made me feel,” he said.
Lyla was described to have similar traits of ambition and thoughtfulness by many of the speakers. “Lyla was a superwoman, smart, strong, and sincere. […] She was truly generous with her time and energy, always doing good for others and making sure everyone was included,” said Elaine Goldberg, a close friend of the Goldstein family. “Lyla was a role model to my daughter, Phoebe, and she certainly was to me too, because she carried herself with reason and a grounded sense of what was right,” said Goldberg.
Kevin Sheehy, Goldberg’s husband, said in his speech about the family that Lyla left an indelible impression on him: “She was always a straight shooter. She made no apologies for being who she was,” he said.
A group of seven girls, including Ella Viti, sang the song “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John to honor her friendship with Violet. During their time together at Newton South High School, Viti said she and Violet would joke and sing “Tiny Dancer” multiple times, every time they had their art class. Viti said she has listened to “Tiny Dancer” every day since Violet passed away.
Matt Wilson, Violet’s former teacher at Newton South HS, read a poem entitled “I See You Every Day,” which he said he wrote for her, incorporating imagery from her artwork of the sisters depicted as part fish. “Sometimes I can see you smiling at me, that beautiful, authentic, infectious smile. A smile that knows, a smile that understands, a smile that is both comfortable and comforting. A smile I miss. For a moment, I’m convinced it’s you. I forget you’re gone, and for a split second, the world is a better, brighter, purer place,” said Wilson.
The culmination of voices Saturday night was an intimate presentation of the impact Lyla, Matthew, Valerie, and Violet had on their community. “They enhanced so many of our lives,” said Bernstein.
