Longtime Fox Point resident Rose Wilk (nee Rakita) died April 25 of natural causes at age 86. She was preceded in death by husband Herbert Wilk in 1996.
A graduate of Washington High School, she worked briefly as a bookkeeper for her father’s company, Hanover Bottling Works.
A lifelong volunteer, she devoted herself for 35 years to the chaplaincy program at Mount Sinai Hospital, now Aurora Sinai, the same hospital where she was born.
She reportedly incorporated her Yiddush speaking skills to assist Russian immigrants and elderly patients in communicating with doctors and nurses. She also helped to organize the annual Hanukkah party at the hospital.
She was the recipient of the hospital’s Heritage Award in 1994, the first time the award was given to a volunteer.
She also volunteered for the Jewish War Veterans, the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the Milwaukee Jewish Home and the Holiday Folk Fair.
She was a member of Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue, Hadassah and NA’AMAT USA.
She is survived by sons Martin (Janet) Wilk of Brunswick, Maine, and Stuart Wilk of Dallas, Texas.; sister Sylvia (Sidney) Bernstein of Glendale; brother Nathan J. (Lillian) Rakita of Milwaukee; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Rabbi Gideon Goldenholz officiated at funeral services at Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue, April 28. Burial was in Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel Cemetery.
Memorial contributions to the Jewish Chaplaincy Program of Milwaukee c/o Milwaukee Jewish Federation, 1360 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53202 would be appreciated by the family.
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