Marie Ellen Kaplan

Marie Kaplan was born in Los Angeles on April 23, 1928 to Erich and Edith Henschel. She was raised in the Los Angeles area in California. She grew up an only child and graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1946. After high school, she attended Mills College for two years, which she loved. After her father died suddenly, she returned to Los Angeles and graduated from USC nursing school in 1950.

While she was attending USC, she met her future husband, Abner Kaplan, through a mutual friend and they were married in 1950. While Abner was getting his PhD at Caltech, Marie worked as a registered nurse to support them and got what she called her "PHT" (Put Husband Through). After Abner graduated and became employed, Marie stayed at home and raised three children.

Additionally, Marie volunteered for the Red Cross teaching Mother and Baby Care as well as Home Nursing. She also recruited and trained other volunteers as instructors for Red Cross Preparedness training courses and disaster nursing. In 1967, she was one of ten volunteers nationwide (and the first one ever from the Los Angeles area) to receive the Estrabrook award for ingenuity teaching ability and leadership in the Red Cross nursing services program.

Marie loved gardening and volunteered at the South Coast Botanic Gardens. Her passions volunteering there included plant propagation, growing plants for the annual plant sale, assisting with the flower show and handling the organization’s publicity and public relations programs.

In 1971, Marie returned to work as a school nurse for Los Angeles City Schools. She worked at Loren Miller Elementary School in South Los Angeles for 12 years.

After Marie retired from school nursing, she traveled some with Abner and continued with her volunteer work primarily teaching English as a second language.

Marie is survived by her three children, Eric, Ellen (Guy, deceased) and Michael (Kimberly) and her three grandchildren, Sean, Wesley (Rebecca), and Jason.