Elizabeth Don is a holocaust survivor.
She is a personal witness to the Anchluss and Kristalnacht and other worse atrocities that befell the Jews of Vienna under Hitler.
She was on the last Kindertransport to England sponsored by the Quakers. Her cousin, on the same transport, was removed from the train because his papers were not in order. In one of his early letters he had written that he did not want to get old like his grandparents. His wish came true. He was incinerated in the gas chambers.
In England, the V2 blitz drove her and other lucky children to the English countryside.
The Jewish Committee sponsored her steerage to New York Harbor and the thrill and relief of seeing the Grand Lady with her torch, the Statue of Liberty.
She took a Greyhound bus to San Francisco and by a stroke of unbelievable luck and good fortune, met again with her parents who had put her on the Kindertransport in Vienna, thinking they would never again be a family. But for the Grace of God, she might never have been.
She became a naturalized American citizen.
Her parents wanted her to get married. She had the ambition to go to college. She worked her way through the University of California at Berkely to a degree in Journalism.
From a little country paper, The Tule Lake Gazette in Tule Lake, Oregon, she worked her way to the most prestigious advertising firm in New York, Olgivy, Benson, and Mather.
She is a gourmet food expert–had a successful 20 year career in the national marketing and advertising for the major food companies- TV, Radio, and Print. She invented the Good Seasons Cruet System for salad dressings. She gave up her career to facilitate mine.
The neighbors describe her: “she is a sparkler”, sparkling eyes, sparkling smile, sparkling wit”, and always taking time to help others. The neighbors have returned this in the same spirit in supporting us in her travails and last journey for which we thank them.
She supported Israel through the UJA and Hillel and never turned down a beggar at the door.
She was sitting in the back row of one of her husband’s classes at Adelphi University. A student asked a question. Professor Don looked to Mrs. Don in the back row for an answer since that question was in Mrs. Don’s area of expertise. Soon, all heads were turned to the back row as she mesmerized the class till the bell rang and then some beyond.
She was one of the first environmentalist, starting in California with the Sierra Club and continuing that work on Long Island.
She loved all creatures. She personally rescued 235 kittens and cats, feeding some of the kittens with an eye dropper and found them homes. She rescued baby birds that fell out of their nests. She rescued Racoons, sometimes a risky affair. She rescued squirrels including one black with soot that she pulled up from the chimney on a rope. .
She had the greatest regard for education. She is a learned woman fluent in four languages, German, French, Italian, and English. Her desire was to support her husband in his educational dreams and to finance a college education for her three handsome grand nephews so that they would not have the hardship she had encountered. This may be her greatest legacy..
To this end, she has succeeded beyond belief.
God Bless you, Elizabeth Mann Don.