Ellen Avins

Ellen Sharfstein Avins, age 104, of Skillman, NJ, died on June 29 at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center after a brief illness.

A native New Yorker, she was the oldest of the four children of Hyman Sharfstein and Sarah Stern Sharfstein. She excelled at Curtis High School on Staten Island and went on to Hunter College, graduating in 1937 with a major in statistics and election to Phi Beta Kappa.

Her career as a teacher of business studies at Curtis, New Dorp, and Tottenville high schools on Staten Island gave her great pleasure. After getting a Master’s in Counseling at Rutgers she became a career counselor, mentoring Tottenville students (some of whom had never been to Manhattan) and preparing them to succeed in the workplace. In the early years of retirement she used those skills as co-director of The Professional Roster in Princeton (where she and her family had moved in 1964).

She was married for fifty years to Jack Avins, a research engineer at RCA. With him she shared enthusiasm for family travel adventures and closeness to their siblings and extended families. In 2003 she moved to Stonebridge at Montgomery. In the past ten years, she was fortunate to live with her talented and devoted companion, Winnie Njero.

Ellen is survived by her children Laurence Avins (Mary Ellen Biebel) and Carol Avins (Rayman Solomon); grandchildren Sara Avins Brown, Jenni Avins, Sara Voegtline, Matt Biebel, Claire Avins Solomon Nisen, and Jess Avins Solomon; as well as great-grandchildren Bella, Maizie, Jack, Lua, and Miriam.

Funeral services are Tuesday 10:30AM (July 6) at The Jewish Center,435 Nassau Street, Princeton. Burial will follow at The United Hebrew Cemetery, Staten Island, NY