44 | DECEMBER 31 • 2020 

SOUL

OF BLESSED MEMORY

continued from page 43

YEARA HOUVRAS (née 
Gorfinkel), 81, died on Dec. 10, 
2020. 
She was born on Kibbutz 
Kinneret, on the shore of the 
Lake Kinneret on June 16, 
1939. Yeara’s parents traveled 
to Israel in 1935 from Riga, 
Latvia, to participate in the 
second Maccabiah Games. Like 
other athletes in the Maccabiah 
II, they were escaping rising 
antisemitism in Europe and 
they made a permanent home 
in Israel. 
They moved to Ramatayim 
(Hod Hasharon), where her 
father was a physical education 
teacher. Yeara was the eldest of 
three daughters and was drawn 
to studying biology and chem-
istry. She attended the New 
School in Tel Aviv and was a 

medic in the Israeli Army. 
In 1962, Yeara traveled to the 
United States to attend Wayne 
State University in Detroit. 
She was warmly taken in by 
the Jewish community as were 
many Israelis of her genera-
tion in Detroit. Yeara studied 
chemistry and worked at the 
Michigan Cancer Foundation, 
where she made contributions 
to the study of protein bio-
chemistry.
She met Nick Houvras, a 
native Detroiter, married and 
started a family. After raising 
her children, Yeara returned to 
work as a scientist in the poly-
mer chemistry industry, where 
her work led to several patents. 
She returned to Israel many 
times and family remained the 
center of her life. 

In recent years, Yeara read 
fiction in Hebrew, loved to 
watch movies with her hus-
band and delighted in talking 
to friends and family. She took 
immense joy in the lives and 
milestones of her children and 
grandchildren.
This winter, the family 
learned that Yeara had pancre-
atic cancer; after a brief hospi-
talization, she passed away.
Mrs. Houvras is survived by 
her husband, Nick; her daughter 
and son-in-law, Irit and Rainer; 
her son and daughter-in-law, 
Yariv and Judy; their children, 
Noa, Aitan and Ezra. 
Contributions in Yeara’s 
memory to support pancreatic 
cancer research may be made to 
the Karmanos Cancer Institute, 
karmanos.org/giftofhope. 

DAVID ALEX OPPENHEIM, 
77, of Medfield, Mass., died 
Dec. 11, 2020, in Boston with 
his beloved wife and daughter 
beside him. 
David was born in Detroit, 
the son of Joseph and Florence 
(Elconin) Oppenheim. Oak 
Park High School classmates 
remember him as a valued 
friend and an excellent clari-
netist. 
A University of Michigan 
graduate, Dave earned M.A.
’s 
in mathematics and computer 
science from the University of 
Wisconsin. A software engineer 
by profession, he was an accom-
plished amateur photographer 
and chef. 
Mr. Oppenheim leaves his 
wife, Judith Kruntorad; his 
daughter, Cheryl Mazzoli