Alena Sesinova

When in Doubt, Serve Tuna
Alena Sesinova never fully mastered English, a trait that her friends found endlessly endearing. She dispensed entirely with certain articles of speech, like the word "the," and when she had had a glass of red wine or two her Czechoslovakian accent would grow thicker still.

When she arrived alone in New York in the early 1970's from Prague and landed a job at the Macy's cafeteria, she would serve a tuna sandwich to any customer she couldn't understand.

"She was a survivor ‹ she'd made it in America, and she loved this country," said her friend of 25 years, Nanette Shaw.

Ms. Shaw said she sometimes kidded Ms. Sesinova for always having an American flag in her car, and always the response was the same: America, Ms. Sesinova would say, was the land that had given her her life, and that was not to be forgotten.

Ms. Sesinova, 57, had been trained as an engineer under the Communist regime, and made the transition to computer work in the 1970's, and later information technology at Marsh Inc.

She lived in Brooklyn Heights and after many years had attained what she considered the highest symbol of making it in New York: a seven-room apartment.