Leah Windmeuhl Lapkin

Loving wife, mother and grandmother (b. April 22, 1917, Vienna, Austria - d. May 11, 2007, Oklahoma City). Leah Windmeuhl was born, raised and educated in Vienna, Austria. She was a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust and imprisoned in eight different concentration camps during WWII. The testimony of her struggle and survival in the death camps has been recorded and archived worldwide by filmmaker Steven Spielberg in his Shoah project. Liberated by the Russian Army in 1945 Leah walked across Poland and into occupied Germany. Eventually she reunited with her brother in Switzerland, the only other member of her immediate family to survive the camps. She and her husband decided to leave Europe and move to the United States. Leah and Sam Lapkin arrived in Oklahoma City in 1952 with their daughter, Sonia, and son, Ben. Here she worked tirelessly as a dressmaker and seamstress supporting her family. She was a life long member of Emanuel Synagogue and Hadassah and a tireless spokesperson for Jewish causes. She often spoke to local grade school and high school students about her experiences. She was a true witness to history. Her husband, Sam Lapkin (1959); her son, Ben Lapkin (1980); and her daughter, Sonia Tullius (2004), precede her in death. Leah is survived by her granddaughter, Elizabeth B. Tullius of New York, NY. Elizabeth is her legacy. Special thanks and heart felt appreciation is extended to Pam Chadwell, P.A. and all the nurses and staff of Windsor Hill Nursing Center of Oklahoma City who lovingly and compassionately cared for Leah during her last illness. Interment was held at Emanuel Hebrew Cemetery at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, May 13, 2007 under the direction of Hahn-Cook/Street & Draper Funeral Directors.