A
viva Sandler (neé
Thatch) died
peacefully at home,
surrounded by family, on
June 1, 2022.
Born during the
Holocaust on March 4,
1942, to parents Benesch
and Riva Tkatsch (later
Thatch), Aviva spent the
first two years of her life
in a few cramped rooms in
the Kovno Ghetto (Kaunas
Lithuania) with seven addi-
tional family members.
When the SS would come
to inspect, Riva and baby
Aviva would hide in a hole
dug in the dirt beneath lay-
ers of sofa, rug and floor,
where she was trained to be
silent.
Two years later, fearing
what was to come, her
parents made the difficult
decision to smuggle her
out of the ghetto. A plan
was hatched. Sedated by a
Jewish doctor, she was bun-
dled into layers of clothes,
padded with hay, wrapped
in a distinctive blanket from
her father’s textile import
business and dropped
from a wagon under cover
of darkness at a pre-de-
termined spot on a road,
where a gentile woman had
agreed to take her to safety.
Shortly thereafter, the
ghetto was liquidated and
Aviva’s family was trans-
ported to the concentration
camps: Shtuthoff for the
women, Dachau for the
men. Thankfully, both par-
ents survived the war. In a
movie-worthy twist of fate,
Aviva’s original rescuer was
unable to safely keep her
and, when approached, was
unable to name the second
rescuer. It was
Aviva’s sharp-eyed
grandmother
who spotted a
woman in the
village square
wearing a shawl
made of Aviva’s
unique blanket
that enabled the
reunification
of the family in
spring of 1945 after
the liberation. Aviva’s
personal experience of
kindness and hope at
such a young age was
reflected in her kind-
ness toward others and
in her lifelong optimistic
outlook.
Aviva enjoyed a long
career as a clinical social
worker in the Detroit area,
helping hundreds of clients
piece together the puzzles
in their lives. It was a career
to which she was well-suit-
ed and one that she loved.
A generous hostess,
Aviva loved nothing more
than filling her home with
friends, flowers and family,
serving an abundance of
food that tasted as scrump-
tious as it looked. Her 4th
of July parties were legend-
ary, as were her Passover
seders.
An adventurer, Aviva
traveled with her husband,
Bob, all over the world:
Egypt, Morocco, Italy,
England, Mexico, Brazil,
Turkey, Africa, Cuba and
Colombia, among others.
She enjoyed ski-
ing and SCUBA
diving excursions.
An artist, Aviva
created beautiful-
ly knit clothing,
wool-felt art,
fused glass and
handmade paper
3-D artworks. Her
gardens were liv-
ing art through-
out the seasons.
Aviva amassed
legions of lifelong
friends with whom
she enjoyed life’s
adventures. Her life,
bookended between
the most horrific of war-
time experiences and an
international pandemic and
the heartless war between
Ukraine and Russia, nev-
ertheless was filled with
love, beauty, gratitude and
adventure.
Mrs. Sandler is survived
by a host of beloved rela-
tives: her loving husband
of 60 years, Robert; her
devoted children, Elizabeth,
Eric and Jennifer Sandler-
Bowen; her son-in-law,
Lance Bowen; her treasured
grandson, Ian Sandler-
Bowen, who loved his Uma;
her best friend and sister,
Rhoda (Michael) Kamin;
loving brother, Dr. Leonard
Thatch; sister-in-law, Susan
(Isidore) Bass; nieces and
nephews, David (Megan)
Bass, Michael (Edit) Bass,
David (Jolene) Kamin,
Carrie (Christopher) Swan;
loving cousins, Gloria
Zimet, Jefferey and Lisa
Mark, and Dr. Polina
Davidson; Gloria’s children
and their partners, Yaniv
(Sivane), David (Antonio)
and Noam (Coleen) and
little Eli. She was a great-
aunt to Naomi, Clara, Aron,
Lainey, Henry, Laurel,
Francis and Emma.
She was the cherished
daughter of the late Benesch
and the late Riva Thatch;
treasured granddaughter
of the late Emma Frank;
niece of the late Samuel and
the late Rose Mark; sister-
in-law of the late Marshall
and the late Judith Sandler;
cousin-in-law of the late
Natan Zimet.
Interment was at Clover
Hill Park Cemetery.
Contributions may be made
to HIAS, Development
Dept., 333 Seventh Ave.,
16th Floor, New York, NY
10001, hias.org; Freedom
House Detroit, 1777 N
Rademacher St., Detroit, MI
48209, freedomhousede-
troit.org; Together Rising,
800 W. Broad St., Suite
6409, Falls Church, VA
22040, togetherrising.org/
give, or to a charity of one’s
choice. Arrangements by Ira
Kaufman Chapel.
A Lifelong Optimist
JUNE 9 • 2022 | 69
Aviva Sandler