Elvira E. Myers

Elvira Elizabeth Myers was born in Willemstad, Curacao, in the Netherlands Antilles on June 23, 1932, and died in Miami, Florida, on September 27, 2025, at age 93. The only child of Jan G. Nieuwenhuijzen of the Netherlands, and Vera de Marchena Nieuwenhuijzen of Curacao, she attended high school at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, followed by college at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and later Columbia University in New York City, from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She was a naturalized American citizen and a proud Democrat who believed fiercely in fairness, social justice, and the dignity of all persons.

She did social work in the Netherlands and worked in market research in New York City. Later, she served as a Guardian ad Litem in Miami, appointed by the courts to protect the interests of young people unable to advocate for themselves. She lived by and often quoted Shakespeare’s famous line from Hamlet: “To thine own self be true,” and she loved to dance, read, and travel. She was a loving mother to her two sons and was devoted to her four grandchildren and to her six great-grandchildren, as well as to her two dachshunds, Samson and Toby. She was married twice, first to Joseph S. Jellinek, then to William Myers, and following Myers’ death in 1983 she lived with her loving companion Armando Alentado until his death in 2018. Elvira will be deeply missed by her family, friends, and caregivers. She is survived by her son Paul Jellinek and his wife Susan Jellinek; her son Martin Jellinek; her granddaughter Lisa, her husband David, and their children Liam and Elizabeth; her grandson Michael, his wife Dara, and their children Isabel and Emily; her granddaughter Amy, her husband Ian, and their children Leonard and Rowan; and her grandson Robert.

Visitation will be held on October 9 from 9:00-11:00 a.m. at Chapel C (second floor), Caballero Rivero Little Havana, 3344 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33135, followed by a Committal Service at 11:30 a.m. at Graceland Memorial Park North, 4420 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33134.