ELYSE HALPRIN (SAMUELS)

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ELYSE HALPRIN

With great sadness we announce the sudden passing of our mother and grandmother, Elyse Naomi (Samuels) Halprin on December 23, 2022 at "93 years young."
Elyse was our matriarch and truly felt timeless; she is remembered as vibrant, intelligent, generous and always a picture of sophistication, grace and beauty. Everyone who met or knew her was inevitably impressed by how young she seemed and how elegant she was.
She is survived by her son David (Linda); son-in-law Bryan Klein; granddaughters, Baillie Chisick (Daniel), Sarry Klein (Scott), Julie Klein (Alan) and Emily Halprin (Kevin). Elyse was predeceased by her husband Rivan Kenneth (Ken) Halprin; beloved daughters, Susan Halprin (Klein) and Tracey Halprin; brother Barnett and sister-in-law Lillian. She leaves behind her beloved great-grandchildren, Lyla Bea, Asher Theo, Miles Reuben and Leo Sunny, to whom she was affectionately known as "GG".
Elyse was born at the onset of the great depression to David Theodore Samuels and Nell Sodomsky on November 26, 1929, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She grew up in the West End of Winnipeg and attended Gordon Bell High School. In the late 1940s she met Ken at a Jewish fraternity party at Sammy's Club Room, beginning a lifelong romance. In January 1951, upon graduation from the University of Manitoba, Ken and Elyse married and embarked on a beautiful life together.
Elyse was a devoted mother to three children, Susan, Tracey and David. Ken and Elyse raised their family in an idyllic, tight-knit, Jewish community in River Heights. For over 50 years, the Halprin family retreated to their lakefront cottage at Winnipeg Beach, where their days were overflowing with friends and cousins, card games and dinner parties and day camp for their children and great-grandchildren. Elyse and Ken became snowbirds in the early 1980s in south Florida, enjoying a vibrant social life which continued well into their golden years.
Elyse dedicated significant time to volunteer work in the community, primarily with Canadian Hadassah WIZO and the Women's Division of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg. She enjoyed attending exercise class at the Rady Centre, maintaining her close friendships with her girlfriends and thriving as a great-grandmother. Cooking, baking, hosting Shabbat dinner and being part of the daily activity of her family kept her thriving, with weekly deliveries of cheese muffins and cookies to her grandchildren.
The tragic passing of Tracey in September 2003 and Susan in 2020, left a crater in our family. For many years, Elyse was a caregiver to Ken as he faced serious health challenges. Despite it all, Elyse held our family together with her unwavering resilience, grace and positivity. Elyse was indefatigable – she remained active and engaged in world issues and interacted as easily with her grandchildren as she did with her peers. She kept the pulse of pop culture and fashion, stayed in close contact with family and friends, and was a regular participant in family FaceTimes and text message groups. Healthy until the very last days of her life, Elyse served her family as an elegantly stoic anchor who will be forever missed.
The family would like to thank Theresa Livingstone, Sonia Bermudez, Nenette Reyes and Nancy Bilible for their care and friendship over the past two years. We are grateful to the doctors and nurses at Victoria Hospital and St. Boniface Hospital for their care and compassion.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Elyse Halprin fund at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Dec 31, 2022