Elaine Yarin Cantor

Dear Grandma

When my father came home
I asked him how his day was
Lines on his forehead emerged
Like crossroads
They lined the explanation of his sadness.

My Grandmother always quoted her favorite book,
Life Is With People
Yet when her life ended
She left so many behind.

My Grandmother was a history teacher
She erased crossroads on the forehead
Of every person she met
When she was diagnosed with cancer
All the pencils erasers in the...

As Christmas approaches I am thinking of Elaine, whose mother advised her to go visit during December the neighborhood where she was thinking of buying a house, to see if there were a lot of Christmas trees. Elaine protested that she didn't mind having Christian neighbors. Finally her mother explained that the issue was, would the neighbors want HER? Elaine was just astonished at the idea that these neighbors would not want her next door! I am sure her positive loving spirit carried the...

Thoughts for Elaine’ birthday, May 2, 2007 by Lila Soll

As Elaine's birthday approaches I will lend my voice to the famous friendship that Skitz and Carla so beautifully alluded to in their tributes to Elaine. Her birthday has special meaning to the three of us, not because of childhood parties or gifts (which we did not exchange,) but because Elaine's birthday was the beginning of all our birthdays, May to July 1930.

Our early sharing took place for several years at the summer...

Remembering my friend Elaine

There are so many remarkable things we all can say about Elaine...and many have said them very eloquently.

I should like to tell you about an episode that happened in Utica which sticks in my mind most vividly. Elaine and Hal lived a block away from our home and passed ours, coming and going. Very often Elaine would stop in on her way home from school (where she was an ace-of-a -teacher, by the way) and we’d wait for ‘the professors’. I never...

We have very fond memories of Elaine. She was always warm and gracious, and generously introduced us to her other friends with common interests. She had a unique ability to reach out to people, and was a tireless co-organizer with Hal of the wonderful Drama and Shakespeare programs.Her great interpersonal skills, and unlimited quest for knowledge, substantially enriched our winters in Florida. She was a very special person, and she will be greatly missed by many, many people.We are extremely...

David Fischer, Elaine's childhood friend wrote the following to her children:

Your mother was a wonderful person in so many ways. She was intelligent, she was warm and caring and she was fun. We spent many pleasant hours together during our high school years and at the East Midwood Jewish Center. We were very fond of each other but when she went to Duke and I went to Williams, we began to lose touch. Massachusetts to North Carolina and back is a long haul for young people in...

Hal and Elaine. Elaine and Hal. I have never known two people more distinctily themselves who were also so singularly a couple.

What I remember about Elaine most is her unflappable atmosphere of competence. She was never at a loss. For a good idea. A necessary plan or fall-back option. An encouraging word. A timely snack.

Though years sometimes passed without my seeing her, when we met again, it was as though I had only stepped around a corner. The conversations...

Skitz Nichols, a friend since kindergarten, read the following at Elaine's funeral and at a memorial service that took place March 4, 2007, at Bat Yam on Sanibel Island in Florida.

FOR ELAINE

I have no biological sister, but I had two sisters nevertheless. Esther Yarin (Elaine's mother) was a persuasive talker but it was my good fortune that she failed to persuade the New York City school system to admit her smart little daughter, born 1 day after the then cutoff date of May 1,...

Dear Carla, I have been thinking of you and your Dad and Richard, of your children and relatives, and of how you and I have been connected now for over 25 years by the landmarks that unites families.
Thank you for including us in your ten glimpses.
Your mother was a wonderful friend and my mother has often told me, "I don't know what I would have done with myself down there (Florida) if it hadn't been for Elaine!" When I was with your mom and your father I felt as though they were my...