Family Announcement

Family Announcements

Obituary

ELINOR HOLDSBERG (NEE ELLISON)

ELINOR HOLDSBERG

It is with sadness we announce the death of Elinor Holdsberg (nee Ellison) in Cape Town on 28.12.2024, aged 95. Born in London in 1929 to parents originally from Latvia, she was evacuated at age 10 to the countryside at the start of World War II. In the early 1950s she earned a degree from Bedford College, now Royal Holloway University of London. Arriving in Cape Town from London in 1956 to join her sister Margot who was already living there, she began a long career as a social worker at the Cape, continuing with socially-oriented work beyond the age of 80. She worked for SHAWCO (Students Health and Welfare Centres Organisation) for many years, and for decades was involved in training and supervising UCT social work students. Later she specialised in geriatric social work and became head Social Worker at Highlands House, eventually becoming a resident there herself in 2012. She was an active member of many local voluntary organisations including the Soroptimists and Cape Jewish Seniors, as well as a supporter of a number of charities dedicated to alleviating poverty and distress, among them The Haven Night Shelter. For most of her life in Cape Town she lived in Three Anchor Bay, and later in Sea Point, with her husband Chaim Holdsberg (married 1960, died 2001).

If any former colleagues or friends would like to know more about a memorial and celebration of her life to be arranged in Cape Town later in 2025, please contact me, Mark Sebba (her nephew in England), at marksebba56@gmail.com, and I will keep you informed.


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