Mireille Marie Marsen

My beautiful mother Mimi, departed this life on Wednesday morning and has left an immense void in our hearts, which we hope time will gradually heal. Now, as an angel, she watches over us, radiating her love like never before.

Born Mireille Marie Litke in Paris in 1927, she spent her early years with her parents, Annie and Jacques, at their Café Hotel “Mon Jacques” in Bondy, a suburb outside Paris.

Mimi’s love for ballet led her to become a protégé at the Paris Opera Ballet School at the age of 13. However, her education was disrupted in May 1940 when Germany invaded France, resulting in her expulsion along with other Jewish children.

Following the occupation of Paris, her father Jacob Litke, was captured and held at Drancy, France, before being deported to Auschwitz on the first railroad convoy, where he died three months later.

Her mother, Annie Litke, born in Constantinople, Turkey in 1897, was a remarkable woman. Fluent in six languages, she demonstrated great resourcefulness and cunning by smuggling Mimi into a covenant in Switzerland, where she became one of the “Enfant Caches” or “Hidden Children”.

Once Mimi was safe, Annie joined the French Underground “Resistance”, that fought the Nazi occupation of France. They sabotaged equipment and infrastructure and provided significant military intelligence to the allies, that helped quicken their advance after the invasion of Normandy.

After the war, Mimi traveled to America on the Queen Mary and initially resided with her aunt and uncle until she could secure sufficient funds to relocate to New York City. There, she danced with Carnegie Hall Ballet Company and later performed as a dancer on the Milton Berle show.

During that time, Mimi was trying to get Annie into the United States however, there were problems with her immigration papers. So Mimi contacted Senator Lehmann’s office of New York and lobbied on her mother’s behalf.

Because of Annie’s heroism and tremendous aid to the Allies, Senator Lehmann passed a bill in the United States Senate to formally allow Annie Litke to enter the United States and become a United States citizen. Mimi & Annie’s unyielding determination had won!

It was then, at a clambake in Montauk NY that she met her future husband, Herman Marsen, while fostering her love for seafood, particularly lobster. The couple married in a fairytale wedding at the Pierre Hotel in 1955.

They had two children, Vicky, who also became an accomplished Ballet dancer and danced with the famous choreographer George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet Company, and Jack, who has been in Catalog Print for over 35 years.

Mimi and Herman retired to Miami Beach in 1989. It was there that she developed her love for Bingo and sunny days and after 44 years of marriage, her husband passed away in September 1999, one month before Jack & his wife Tanya’s wedding.

Mimi stayed another 11 years in Miami, but soon was spending a lot of time in New Jersey with Tanya and Jack and their two daughters Remy and Jessie. She joined the Golden Age Club at the Senior Center, so she could play bingo every day and it was there, where she found a second family and friends and moved to Oak Ridge permanently in 2011.

Mimi is being flown to Lakeside Memorial Park, in Miami FL, where her interment ceremony will be on Monday, January Fifth. Her final resting place between her mother, Annie Litke and her husband “Hi”.

A shiva will follow upon our return, and we will publish the date at our earliest convenience.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in her name to the Elie Wiesel- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org in Washington D.C.