Muriel “Mimi” Tolkoff June 24, 1922-June 2, 2024
The joyful, always moving on to new adventures life that Muriel Tolkoff lived would have seemed beyond belief to the young Mimi (as she’s known to all). . That young girl was born, just shy of 102 years ago, to a poor immigrant Jewish family in the Bronx. Her parents were Abraham and Rose Zimmerman.
Mimi went to PS 2, then,, choosing an all-girls institution, to Julia Richman High School, where she got a commercial diploma. She had some sort of dyslexia-like condition that made spelling and, ironically, reading difficult. Some called her “dummy.” But Mimi would find out and show the world that she was no dummy. She never stopped learning.
After a few years as an inventory clerk, she married her adored sweetheart Isadore “Pickles” Tolkoff and became a housewife and mom to Esther, Andy and Ted.
Pickles and Mimi were quite a team – they laughed, they did the jitterbug, had fun with their many friends. They were vibrant.
Life changed for Mimi many times. She cared for her ailing parents and went back to work as assistant to the Jewish Home and Hospital’s head of the dietary department.
When Pickles died at 56, everything was different. She buried herself in work. But bit by bit she widened her world. She’d always loved historical fiction and the British women writers like Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters.
Finding herself on her own and retired she went to the theater and the Metropolitan Opera with her women friends. They all traveled together. On impulse, she once traveled to Hawaii by herself.
But indeed she never stopped learning. She discovered Hunter College’s senior auditors program, which allowed seniors to attend “real college classes” for free. She did the work and, ironically, read and read and read.
Dummy no more, she studied English literature, Jewish history, anything that struck her fancy.
Hunter was a treasured chance to at last get an education, a place where she made new friends of all ages. She went there regularly until she broke three ribs at 92. She went back but the time had come to be a real retiree.
Of course, she was always involved with her three children, her grandchildren ,Andy’s daughter Ilana Revkin (Ben) and Max Tolkoff (Jenny), and in time, her three great grandchildren – Maya, Adina and Robert. Oh what delight the little ones have brought her. She beamed at the sight of them.
One of Mimi’s “symbols” to those in the Rego Park neighborhood she moved to was her scooter. She had arthritic troubles but got a scooter at age 90 and zipped around to see the local world., bouncing back with resilience any time an occasional injury, condemned her to taking some time off to rest.
She watched foreign news progams and films, subtitled Korean soaps. Her down to earth ability to talk to all sorts of people kept life vibrant. She looked forward right to her sudden end to her frequent transatlantic conversations with her former boss at the Jewish Home, Jean Kwetang, who retired to Ghana. Mimi could talk to and learn from everyone. There was always something new to explore. Her children, nieces and nephews, all see her as an inspiration. Her strength and curiosity will stay with them far longer than her amazing more than a century on this earth.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity of your choice, especially one that has to do with lifelong learning, literacy, and issues facing older adults.
A graveside service for Muriel will be held Wednesday, June 5, 2024 from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM at Mount Lebanon Cemetery, 7800 Myrtle Ave, New York, NY 11385.
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