Silke Marquardt Finlator

1942 - 2025

Silke Marquardt Finlator

June 18, 1942 - June 15, 2025

Raleigh, North Carolina - Silke Karin Gisela Marquardt Finlator passed away on June 15, 2025. Born on June 18, 1942 to Ilse and Johannes Marquardt in Eberswalde, Germany, Silke moved to Raleigh in 1969 to marry Willam Wallace Finlator, Jr., son of Rev. W.W. Finlator, Sr., and Mary Elizabeth Purvis Finlator.

Silke's earliest memories included the sound of allied bombs striking nearby, the door knocker on the home her family fled owing to the advancing Russian army, and the privations of a yearlong flight. Her family of seven refugees was eventually taken in by the Schmalor household in Kraftsolms, a Hessian village. Equal parts stoic and poetic, she described her rural childhood as a dreamscape of bathing with small fish in the forest creek, hiking through wildflower meadows, gathering wild mushrooms and berries, meeting villagers at the communal bakehouse, and riding the train to school. She gratefully remembers American soldiers bringing the village children Hershey's chocolates, colorful dresses and amusing them by riding bicycles backwards or playing the blues.

Silke earned a Bachelor's degree in German Literature from the Free University of Berlin and enrolled in graduate study. She met Wallace in 1967 while touring the US East Coast with her university choir. A two-year intercontinental courtship between the children of sometime enemies unfolded, culminating in Silke's decision to end her studies, move to Raleigh, and marry Wallace.

The couple settled into the 1920s home built by Wallace's grandfather in Historic Oakwood. When their three children began squeezing the family's finances, Silke took a position at Athens Drive High School teaching German, French, and eventually Latin. "Frau Finlator" used drama, music, literature, and travel to enliven her courses for nineteen years, earning numerous teaching awards.

Silke and Wallace divorced in 2006 but remained lifelong friends. Ever the wanderer, Silke moved to Portland, Maine for nearly a decade of waterfront walks, attending organ concerts, volunteering at the Portland Museum of Fine Arts, and shoveling snow before relocating to Florida to join her friend, Joe O'Donnell. She frequently laid aside her cello and her books to visit her children and grandchildren, and to catch up with her family in Germany.

Silke's family remembers her inspiration and spontaneity. She sewed without patterns, cooked without recipes, painted without vanity, and whispered to plants and animals. Though bedridden by a stroke in December 2021, she continued to enjoy art, literature, and music, finding beauty everywhere.

Silke is survived by her brother Marten Marquardt, Wallace, her friend Joe, sons Marten and Kristian, daughter Hannah, and seven grandchildren: Roan, Johannes, Kiran, Maya, Caelen, Lavinia, and Alden.

A memorial service for Silke will be held at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church on July 6, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.

Donations in her memory may be made to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature or to The Classical Station, WCPE. Alternatively, take a moonlight walk, read a poem featuring linden trees, play a musical instrument you have set aside for too long, visit a museum, or read a fairy tale with a child.