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Home » Campus News Latest » Obituaries » Elaine Anne Quick ’52

Elaine Quick died on March 28, 2019 though her love, wisdom and courage will live on in our hearts forever. Elaine Anne Rubinstein was born on February 16, 1930 in Great Neck, NY. Her father, Rubin, was an attorney in New York. She loved going into New York City with her father and acquired her classic good taste on 5th Avenue.

She grew up going to Broadway musicals and enjoyed the sophistication of the City. Her mother Irma was a stay at home mom who was very involved in volunteer activities, especially with their Temple.

Elaine was the youngest of the three sisters, Rhoda (Lee), and Judy. Her fondest childhood memories are of the summers they spent in upstate New York on a local farm. They were guests but they all worked in the fields and with the animals and Elaine loved it.

Elaine attended undergraduate school at Antioch College and received her MSW from Simmons College. She worked with unwed mothers in Brookline, MA, as her first job. She met a dashing young man from New Zealand on a blind date on a rainy winter day and a life long love affair was started. Raymond proposed to her on Valentines Day and two months later they were married.

They remained devoted to each other and their three children, Stephen, Sally and Jennifer. Their married life started in a fourth-floor walk-up in Brookline. In 1957 they moved to the house in Lexington, Massachusetts and stayed there until they moved to Arizona in 1989. Elaine suspended her career for 16 years to focus on her family.

In the mid-’70s she went back to work as a volunteer social worker at Lexington High School and then moved to a paying position in Waltham, Massachusetts. Her students loved her, and she loved them. When Ray retired in 1988 so did she. But if he hadn’t retired she would have kept on working. She did some volunteering in Arizona but her formal career was over. However, she still helped people and as she said recently “social workers never really retire”.

She was a great listener and very perceptive; she helped people until the day she died. In the ’60s Ray and Elaine bought their first small sailboat and from Memorial Day to Labor Day the whole family went up to Gloucestershire and spent the weekend on a small sailboat. Exploring Cape Ann and taking several sailing vacations over the years. The 19 foot boat on the trailer in the driveway gave way to several larger boats. She enjoyed boating until they moved here in 1989.

Elaine was an avid bicycle rider and often rode a round trip of 10 miles with a kid or two to the local farm stand. Ray and Elaine started biking seriously in their 40s. They took many organized bike tours and loved riding up and down the mountains in Vermont. Their last bike tour was a bike and barge tour in Holland for their 50th wedding anniversary, in 2005. In the ’70s they discovered the life of motorhome travel and took their love of hiking, biking and nature on the road. Elaine was also an avid birder and enjoyed watching even the common birds on her feeder her whole life. The first year in the desert, after years in New England was magical with new birds, new animals, new plants and fabulous views of the mountains.

Elaine had many creative hobbies over the years. In her early days she sewed and did needlework (crewel). She was an avid reader and followed politics, world affairs, and environment issues closely. When she moved to Arizona she joined a colored pencil group and remained a member until she passed away. She was always very interested in all types of art exhibits and loved visiting museums. She loved color, texture, and discovered the joy of identifying and collecting mineral specimens at the Gem Show in Tucson. Her other creative outlet was music. She sang in the temple choir, played piano and always had music playing in the house. She loved classical piano music, Broadway musicals and soft rock.

The greatest joy in her life at the end was the birth of her only grandchild, Lily in 2007. When Jennifer and Lily moved here in January of 2012 and lived with her she was ecstatic. Elaine and Lily spent many happy hours together doing art, enjoying music and just hanging out. They spent every Wednesday afternoon together during the school year. It was the highlight of her week. Elaine had the gift of touching people’s hearts. Her love, wisdom and courage will live on in our hearts forever. A celebration of her life was April 8th, 2019 at East Lawn Palms Chapel.

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