Obituary of Ida Tonkan

Ida (Russakoff), (Heit), (Erlich), Tonkan, 100, passed away on Sunday, October 18, 2009, one week short of her 101 birthday at Bel Air Manor, Newington, CT, She was born October 25, 1908 in Skowhegan, Maine to Anna and Samuel Russakoff. The Russakoff family were Cossacks and jewelers to the Romanov tsars, She is predeceased by her three husbands, Oscar Heit, George Erlich, and George Tonkan, as well as her two children - Sonia Polner, a high school social studies teacher, and her son George Erlich,a renowned photographer. She is survived by two sisters ,Rebecca Amann (Queens, NY) and Sonia Dempsky (Boynton Beach, FL), as well as three grandchildren - Valerie Ann Richardson (Buffalo, NY), Robert Erich Polner (Bethesda,MD) and Scott Erlich (Marin County, CA), and several nieces and nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews.She attended Brandeis University and became a social worker. During WWII, she worked for the War Department. She worked for the N.Y. State Liquor Autiority until her retirement in 1974 when she relocated to Milford and eventually, to East Haven. She was a tireless volunteer for services for the elderly and the physically and mentally handicapped. She was among the first class of ombudsmen for the CT ST Department on Aging and worked in nursing and rest homes in East Haven and Branford, She was a member of the Region II Regional Mental Health Board and its CAC #8, the Board of Connecticut Valley Hospital, and the East Central Mental Health Boardd which eventually became known as Harbor Health, Branford. She was President of Chapter 737 of the American Association of Retired Persons, Vice-President of Adult Day Care Center, an organization she helped to start, She organized the East Shore Parkinson support Group for persons with Parkitson's Disease,and their family and friends initiated the "Vial of Life" medical alert program for the New Haven area, She was trustee and head of social concerns for St.Andrew'S United Methodist Church and a member of the Alice Chapter #76, Hamden,CT of the Order of the Eastern Star, Burial will be on Saturday at 11:00 in East Lawn Cemetery in East Haven, A memorial service will be held on her birthday, Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 2:00 p.m, at St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 1230 Townsend Avenue, East Haven. All who knew Ida are invited to participate. In lieu of flowers, donations may may be made to St.Andrew's United Methodist Church or a charity.of your choice in memory of Ida.