Sybil Helene (Elion) Sanders (1928 - 2011)

Born 1928 in New London, Connecticut

Died 19 Oct 2011 at about age 83 in West Hartford, Connecticut

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Biography

From her obituary: Sybil E. Sanders , 83, of Boynton Beach Florida died in her home in West Hartford, Connecticut early on October 19, 2011.

Born Sybil Helene Elion in New London, Connecticut to parents George O. Elion (1888-1963) and Fannie Medvene Elion (1890-1985).

A writer, editor, organizer and a creative person active on a variety of fronts in Jewish communities, she raised consciousness about medical issues and literary matters and promoted social justice. She was a woman immersed in the life of the mind and in an unceasing personal quest to make the world a better place through small deeds and big ideas.

Jack Elion (1912-1946), her bright, dashing and stylish older brother, set the pace for her to think critically, read deeply (she devoured some 16,882 books) and see beyond the parochial confines surrounding her.

Rabbi Meyer Kripke, a neighbor of her parents, introduced her into to the intellectual roots of Conservative American Judaism and encouraged her to not simply perform rites as routine practice or social rituals but to search for truth and socially aware virtues in texts, writings, and literature.

Rabbi Kripke together with her Hebrew school teacher, her oldest sister Esther Elion (1914-1999) imbued her with a love of Jewish lore and a quest to assert women's right to equality within Jewish conventions. Sybil long campaigned to rid the prayer books used in North American Conservative Jewish congregations of their misogyny and to bring rites and rituals out of shtetl (Eastern Europe village) medieval mind-sets.

Louise Elion Chesler (1920-2009), Sybil's constant dearest companion, acted as the other woman of great influence on Sybil's life. Louise encouraged her to gain independence by learning to drive a coal truck at an early age (for Spicer Ice & Coal, the family energy business).

Nicky Sanders (1927-1995) from West Hartford, met his future bride just after she turned thirteen. By a quirk of fate the Pentagon stationed Nicky at the New London Submarine base in Groton, CT . Sybil and Nicky dated all through the war.

At Williams Memorial Institute, the high school established for "the promotion and advancement of Female Education"in New London from which all three of the 'fabulous Elion sisters' graduated, Sybil at the head of the 1945 class, the yearbook well characterized her: "Syb is an individualist--she likes to walk barefoot--and keeps up with current affairs. Her humorous quips and impish smiles are her trade mark."

When Jack Elion became a war casualty, Sybil's plans for an Ivy League education at Cornell derailed and instead she attended the University of Connecticut where she performed undergraduate research in developmental psychology. After college, Sybil set her sights on early childhood education at the Rawson School in Hartford.

In college, Sybil utilized Louise's twin boys Ronnie (1944-1952)–who polio robbed of life-- and Lawrence (1944-) as primary source materials for her pioneering investigations of how fraternal twins adapted similarly and differently to the worlds around them. Sybil not only wrote about how the twins apprehended the world, she made Larry one of great friends of her life. Larry, in Sybil's mind, was her virtual third child. When Larry's mother, Louise also decided to obtain teaching credentials Sybil assumed responsibilities for Louise's family while big sister returned to university.

Sybil and Nickey married on a very snowy day in December 1948. Nickey and Sybil had two children,

• Jonathan of New York, Veteran CBS News Moscow Correspondent, currently Senior Anchor icstnews.com at the United Nations and a Professor of Communications and Media Studies at Fordham University and
• Ellen Sanders-Nirenstein, a registered nurse and geriatric care manager, of West Hartford. (married Jeffrey A. Nirenstein)

Sybil was active at Beth El Temple, served the Women's League of Conservative Judaism on state and national levels, served as a mentor for national level leadership training, a Girl Scout leader, library developer and for many years as a critic of literature. Sybil joined and promoted 'Another Mother for Peace'; she agitated for The March of Dimes until it helped find a cure for polio. For many years she volunteered her time working with Dr. Milton C. Fleisch counseling parents of babies born with craniofacial challenges. Together with her sister Louise, she acted as Matriarchal director of Elrin Beach, the family homestead in New London.

Sources

• obituary: http://www.weinsteinmortuary.com/obit.cfm?step=2&id=2051