Sofie Storch, 89, died Nov. 26 at Miles Memorial Hospital. With her family by her side she left this life peacefully, and with the gentle grace and strong faith she so revered.
Born July 3, 1920 in Nuremberg, Germany, Sofie survived Kristallnacht, the 1938 anti Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany. A year later with literally the clothes on their backs, Sofie, her mother and father escaped and made their way to America. Paralleling her situation, Sofie’s fiancé Egon, was forced to leave home and family in Vienna, Austria. Interned in France as an enemy alien and without hope, he was about to join the French Foreign Legion when Sofie’s efforts in the U.S. resulted in sponsorship for entry into the United States. They married in 1941.
They first settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, N.Y. where Egon practiced medicine until his death in 1977. In 1957 they moved to Forest Hills where Sofie continued to live until six months ago when she moved to Walpole and then on to an independent apartment at the Lincoln Home. In 1952 Egon and Sofie realized one of their dreams by purchasing Maple Lawn Farm, an 80 acre mixed arable farm in Orange County, New York. Every weekend, every summer vacation, every holiday, family, friends, patients and their kids made the trek from “the city.”
Sofie lived a full and loving life, though widowed for 32 years she was never “alone.” She traveled all over the world to visit friends and family, it was only two years ago she gave up flying the shuttle between New York, Boston and Portland.
She is survived by her daughter, Florence Sender and husband Noam Sender of Waban, Mass.; son, Warren Storch and wife Debora Storch of Walpole; granddaughters, Elyse Scherz of Los Angeles, Cal., and Elinor Storch of Boulder, Col.; grandsons, Joshua Scherz of Wayland, Mass., Benjamin Scherz and wife Sue Latham of Flagstaff, Ariz., Daniel Storch and partner Lauren Beale of Boulder, Col., and Boaz Sender of Boston, Mass.; great-grandchildren, Maxine and Jasper Scherz of Wayland, Mass., Kendra, Devon, Eliyana, and Ruby Scherz of Flagstaff, Ariz., and Lila Skye Storch of Boulder, Col.; beloved nephews, Kenneth Reich, PhD. of Belmont, Mass. and wife Susan Rosborow Reich PhD. and daughters, Liz and Jen Reich; Rabbi Morderchai Reich, PhD. of Efrat, Israel and wife Sema Reich and children Betsalel, Nechuma, Shalom Moshe, Meira and Chana Reich; nephew, Kurty Shahaf of Haifa, Israel; and niece, Dafna Avni of Rishon Le Tzion, Israel.
Gifts in Sofie’s name may be made to the Lincoln Home, 22 River Rd., Newcastle, ME 04553.
