Obituary: Sandra Elkins
She directed retirement and assisted care facilities in Georgia and Florida before retiring to Atlanta.
Sandra Warshaw Elkins, 80, of Atlanta died Saturday afternoon, May 12, 2018, at Halcyon Hospice.
Sandy was the daughter of the late Bennie Warshaw and the late Yetta Warshaw and was born and raised in Savannah. She spent her freshman year of college at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., before returning home to help her parents run the family business. After her marriage to Irvin M. Elkins, she moved to his home in Baxley, where she helped operate his business, the Governor Motel on U.S. Route 1, then the major north-south highway serving the East Coast. One of her main roles was short-order cook in the motel’s restaurant.
While raising her children, she continued her education at Armstrong State College in Savannah and at the University of South Carolina, earning her master of social work. She worked many years with Senior Citizens of Savannah, where she directed the Meals on Wheels program and started Georgia’s first Alzheimer’s day care center. She also established Savannah’s first battered-women’s shelter and started, with her husband, a private senior companion sitter service. She later served as the executive director of Savannah Commons, a retirement home. She was also a longtime lecturer for Weight Watchers Inc.
She was an active member of Congregation Bnai Brith Jacob and had a special fondness for volunteering for any function of the synagogue’s chapter of National Conference of Synagogue Youth, in which her children were active. During youth conventions, she could be found in the synagogue kitchen, cooking for hundreds of kids. After the death of her husband, she moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., where she was the executive director of Menorah Manor, an assisted living/skilled nursing care community. She was active in Chabad of St. Petersburg and Congregation B’nai Israel and made many good friends there. After retirement, she moved to Atlanta to be closer to her family. She was a member of Congregation B’nai Torah. She enjoyed movies, the opera, reading and shopping on QVC.
She was predeceased by her parents, Bennie and Yetta Warshaw; her husband, Irvin M. Elkins; and her sister, Ruth Warshaw Stein. She is survived by her brother, Irvin (Joy) Warshaw; her children, Michelle (Jay) Botwinick, Ben (Ivy) Elkins and Rhonda (Lewis) Perling; her grandchildren, Avi, Isabelle, Adam, Josh and Jared; and her beloved shih tzu, Missy.
Sign the online guestbook at dresslerjewishfunerals.com. The family thanks Hillary Abrams and her staff at Eldercare Companions, the ICU staff at Emory St. Joseph’s Hospital, and Halcyon Hospice for their care and compassion. Burial will take place at Bonaventure Cemetery on Monday, May 14, at 10:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation or the Atlanta Humane Society. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.
comments