Obituary of Marian Miklin

Marian Miklin lived 96 incredibly difficult but gratifying years. She dedicated her life to giving her children and grandchildren opportunities that she never had, and fostering the family life of which she was robbed. 

In July of 1925 Mirka Kestenberg, who we all know as Bubby, was born in Slupia Nowa, Poland. She was the daughter of loving parents Shiya and Rivka Kestenberg, and the sister of Hanka, Sima, Yechiel and Meir. Bubby’s parents were community stalwarts, founding and sustaining local shuls, a homeless shelter for poor Jews, and establishing formal Jewish education for their daughters, and the girls of their community, in the form of bais Yaakov. They were ardent Zionists and supporters of Zev Jabotinsky’s betar movement, while also supporting and revering a nearby Chassidic master, the Ostrovietzer rebbe. They were exceptionally charitable, and were models of hachnasat orchim, opening their doors to the needy. Bubby regularly recounted how her mother would cook elaborate Shabbos meals, but she would not partake because she would lose her appetite from watching lice crawl on the clothing of their indigent Shabbos table guests. She recalled other moments from her childhood, like playing records with her friends, and watching her uncles play tennis in all white uniforms.

She had a beautiful childhood with many fond memories, which ended abruptly at the tender age of 14, when the Nazis invaded her shtetl. Over the next few years, she became an orphan, losing her parents Shiya and Rivka; she also lost her younger brothers Yechiel and Meir, her living grandparents, uncles, aunts, and many cousins, hashem yikom damam. She endured years of slave labor, starvation, disease, torture, abuse, and countless selections. Somehow, some way, she endured all of this with a will to live and a desire for renewal. It is nothing short of a miracle that she and her two sisters, Sima and Hanka, survived the Holocaust. While she was robbed of her childhood, she was a quick study of her parent’s values and priorities, and always carried them with her.

Not long after the end of the war, Bubby married Beryl Miklin, Papa, a fellow survivor, in the Neu Freimann Displaced Persons camp near Munich. They took it upon themselves to attempt to rebuild what was taken from them, and to perpetuate the Jewish people. After several years in Germany, they received paperwork to come to the United States, ultimately settling in Denver. Bubby and Papa arrived in America with not much more than each other and baby Mark, zichrono livracha, and over time built a life for themselves. They had two other children, Jerry, and Lorraine. They established a modest but successful men’s clothing store and tailor shop on East Colfax. They saved for and cherished family simchas. They spent significant time with other holocaust survivors, walking loops around Crestmoor Park and the Cherry Creek Mall. They swam tens of thousands of laps in the JCC, and later Cherry Creek Athletic Club Pools. Papa passed in 1998 after a protracted battle with Alzheimer’s disease, and Bubby again started anew. She dedicated her last decades to her children, grandchildren, and in recent years great grandchildren. She exercised for hours everyday, and scratch baked the most decadent and appetizing pastries and cakes.

Bubby is survived by her sister Hanka (Shmiel a”h) Flamenbaum, children Jerry (Freda) and Lorraine (Bruce), grandchildren Alissa (Adam), Carly (Jon), Tyler (Rachel), Lisa (Benjamin), Aaron (Hannah), Alex, Becky (Nathan), Danny, David, Jason and Zach, and great grandchildren Bella, Molly, Eli, Moshe Ber, Meya, and Jacob. She is preceded by her husband Beryl a”h, son Mark a”h (Karen), sister Sima (Henich) Gutstein a”h, and her immediate and extended family that perished in the gas chambers.

Graveside service, Tuesday, November 30, 2021, 2:00PM, Mount Nebo Memorial Park. Livestream on Feldman Mortuary's YouTube channel.

The Greenstein & Miklin family kindly request any donations in memory of Miriam Miklin should be made to Tomchei Shabbos (https://www.tomcheishabbatdenver.com/) , the EDOS children’s playground fund (https://edosdenver.org/Donate.html) , or Jewish Family Services (https://www.jewishfamilyservice.org/donate) .