Obituary of Evelyn Melamed Silverman

The funeral is private for Mrs. Evelyn Silverman, who died on Friday, Sept. 5, 2008. Arrangements are by the Jacob A. Holle Funeral Home, Maplewood. Evelyn had a difficult but productive life. She was brought here from Russia at the age of two by parents escaping from the pogroms that ushered in the Nazi atrocities. She was born with two club feet, and spent almost three years in hospitals undergoing surgical correction. Nevertheless, she went on to play basketball with braces on her legs. Although she was a valedictorian of her high school class, her fathers untimely death in an accident derailed her plans to become a high school English teacher. Refusing to be discouraged, she wrote poetry and instilled a love of learning in her children. Her oldest son became an electrical engineer. Turned down for military service in World War II because of asthma, he became an electrical engineer and served for life as a Department of the Army civilian. Among other things, he designed the control systems for the first satellites the U.S. put into space. Her other two sons became physicians and served voluntarily in the military service overseas. Her grandchildren became lawyers, a writer, an engineer, a computer specialist and a veterinarian. She is also survived by 13 great-grandchildren. Evelyn was less that five feet tall, but as every one who has known her can attest, she was fiery, feisty and determined. As a senior clerk in the Department of Marine and Aviation of the City of New York, she took it upon herself to go after the companies that had not been paying their pier fees for years. She astonished everyone by collecting nearly $3 million in back fees. Above all else, she loved people and she had zero tolerance for bigotry or prejudice in any form. She shall be missed.