Eva Baer-Schenkein

1932 - 2011
We report with great sorrow the passing on September 17 of Eva Baer-Schenkein, New York, NY. She was cremated on September 20. Eva was 79 years old, daughter of the late Simon and Else Baer. In 1936, Else brought four-year-old Eva to America to visit her dying father. They remained here rather than return to Germany, which saved both their lives.

Eva was the widow of her adored Arthur Schenkein. Together they made life infinitely sweeter for each other. Eva is survived by first cousins in Israel, brother and sister Richard Frankfurter and Brigitte Brandeis and respective families. In the US, many of her husband's Schenkein relatives survive Eva.

She graduated high school at age 16, then attended Queens College before entering Mount Sinai School of Nursing. Eva's nursing school adventures, where she was the Class of 1954's unofficial rebel, were a precursor to her lifelong stance as a person, a no-nonsense nurse and administrator who did not tolerate phoniness or arrogance of any kind. Eva loved nursing and nursing loved Eva. She went to Teachers College of Columbia University for two advanced degrees.

Eva graduated from nursing school to the labor floor at Mount Sinai Hospital, eventually becoming head nurse. She assisted in the delivery of hundreds of babies - and always quoted the precise number. She moved to become head of nursing at Beekman-Downtown Hospital with responsibility for 400 nurses. Administration was not rewarding enough so she entered the program at Roosevelt Hospital to train as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. Her subsequent career was as an OR CRNA in a colorectal surgical practice.

Eva and Roosevelt friends banded together as The Roosevelt Girls whose chief goal was monthly dinner to recall old times, stay in touch, and look after each other. Three years ago, Eva "retired" and went into per diem corporate nursing. She found new friends in business medical departments while providing nursing care to employees, occasionally reading them her Nursing Riot Act on how/why to look after their health. She gave them her firm and enduring support and sense of caring deeply about all people.

Eva had her own style - a marvelous pixie Mohawk haircut along with tattoos and dark blue toenail polish and a silver ring on each finger. She lived what she called a young life in an old body. She leaves behind her beloved dog Pilou, who gave her boundless love.

Eva was a novelist, stand-up comic, poet, observer of New Yorkers' foibles, and food adventurer among the city's ethnic communities. She was an honest, loyal and caring friend and neighbor. She loved her apartment on the Upper East Side because it was a real home. She leaves many friends on Guadeloupe where she vacationed for 30 years. She loved life and lived it to the fullest her own way. She will be mourned by all, remembered with joy, and deeply missed by anyone whose life she touched. Eva was simply - the best.