(see also Obituary – Expanded)
Elka’s Obituary – just the bare bones (.pdf)
Elka Fink was born Elka Myra Person on 17 October 1928 in Groningen, Holland to parents Bernard Person and Rosa Citroen Person and older brother Alexander Dunbar. Her family moved to The Hague when she was 1 ½ years old.
When Elka was 10 ½, under the shadow of Hitler, the family sailed to England and then the United States on the Veendam, arriving at Ellis Island in March 1939 and settling in Great Neck, Long Island. Elka attended Kensington Elementary and graduated from Great Neck High School in June 1946.
Elka attended Wilson College (in Chambersburg, PA) for two years and then transferred to NYU Washington Square, graduating with a BA in Sociology in 1950. She then attended Adelphi College (later called University) School of Social Work and graduated with a MSW in June 1953. From 1953-1957, Elka worked as a medical social worker at the Neurological Institute (part of Columbia University Hospital) in New York City.
Elka married Myron Fink in May 1955, and they lived in Riverdale, NY. When Myron was offered a job at Loyola Law School, they moved to Santa Monica, CA in September 1957. Their son Paul was born in 1958 and their daughter Anji in 1960.
In 1963, Myron was offered a position as Law Librarian at the University of New Mexico. The family moved to Albuquerque, NM, where Elka and Myron spent 31 years. From 1967-1988, Elka worked as a social worker at UNM Hospital. She was the coordinator of the UNM Hospital’s Birth Defects Clinic, which dealt almost exclusively with children with spina bifida. She followed patients with this diagnosis from the time of their birth.
In August 1994, Elka and Myron moved to Bellingham to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Myron died in 2019. Elka lived 27 ½ years in Bellingham.
Elka died on 12 February 2022 in Bellingham, WA. She is survived by her son, Paul Cienfuegos of Portland, OR; her daughter, Anji Citron (Todd Citron) of Bellingham, WA; her grandchildren Julia Citron (Kareem Farooq) of Kirkland, WA, Ezra Citron of Seattle, WA, and Noah Citron (Rachel Santiago) of Madison, WI; and her great grandson, Jasper Citron of Kirkland, WA.
It was important to Elka to be a good daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, medical social worker, and friend. She succeeded on all counts, and then some.
This concludes the basic obituary of Elka Fink. I have written a great deal more about both her life and her death as a way to process what I have experienced as her daughter and to attempt to honor her long life. I’ve also included poetry for those who, like me, find meaning and comfort in words at times of great loss.