Anna B. Feit, 94, a hard-working, adventurous long-distance telephone operator and nurse who persuaded her husband-to-be to learn tennis and visited Jerusalem in her 80s, died of heart failure Friday, Sept. 29, in a hospice on the campus of Rush North Shore Medical Center in Skokie. Mrs. Feit was born in a section of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that is now part of Romania and came to Chicago with her parents when she was 3. She grew up in Old Town, left school at 14 and soon found a job as a long-distance operator, said her son Charles. She was well paid and bought a car–a rarity for young women of that era. In 1927, she met Peter C. Feit in an ice cream parlor, explaining later that such places were popular gathering spots for young people during Prohibition. A skilled tennis player, she challenged Mr. Feit to a match. “Her husband-to-be considered it a sissy game,” her son said. “He went out and bought a racket. He had to learn the game in order to keep the courtship going.” During the Depression, Mrs. Feit worked as a relief switchboard operator in hotels and apartment buildings. Her husband died in 1936. In 1941, she began working in a doctor’s office, filling one of the many jobs vacated during World War II. She worked for several prominent obstetricians and gynecologists, taking appointments, administering medicine, checking blood pressure and performing other tasks, until she was 70. After her retirement, she volunteered for 10 years at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chicago. She lived most recently at Mather Gardens, a retirement residence in Evanston. In addition to her son, survivors include two other sons, Thomas and Eugene; a sister, Helen Hallbom; 12 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren. A funeral mass will be said at 10 a.m. Monday in St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Lake Street and Oak Avenue, Evanston.
