Elaine grew up in Brooklyn NY. She moved with her family to Memphis, TN in 1954 and graduated from White Station HS in Memphis in 1958. She attended college at Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) for 2 years and then graduated from Texas Christian University (TCU) in Ft Worth, Tx in 1962. She completed a medical/lab program at The University of Tennessee, Memphis and moved to take a job at the VA Medical Center Palo Alto 1965 where she was a cytology lab tech in the Pathology Department until she passed. She was there for over 50 years!

 

Elaine loved ice dancing! She started to get involved in the skating community when she took up ice dancing as an adult at the Sunnyvale Ice Palace on Reed Avenue (now Vito’s Pizza.) Evelyn Sartore, judge and Board member of the Silver Edge Skating Club in Sunnyvale, encouraged her to get involved with judging. Elaine often skated with Roger Sartore, a coach and Evelyn’s son.

 

As a mentor, she helped grow a whole new generation of judges. And, this mentorship had effects far more reaching than just the skating world. One young judge went on to get a PhD in medicine and credited Elaine’s influence on his eye for detail in his dissertation. 

 

Where Elaine was most known was her local competition and test judging. She put in countless hours over the years and was always available, dependable, and present. From one local coach, “Elaine had the biggest heart!”

 

At home, she was a dog lover. She had a long line of Cairn Terriers - McDuffie, Tori and finally her current boys, Riley & Curry.  Riley & Curry are now doing well and living in the Finger Lakes region of New York with Elaine’s brother David and his wife Dorothea. 

 

Elaine passed away in July 2021 and we will all miss her!