Maxine A. Gurk

August 28, 1928 – June 7, 2023

Maxine A. Gurk, a longtime resident of Princeton, passed away at home on June 7, 2023. She was predeceased by her husband, Herbert M. Gurk in 2013. She is survived by her children Lisa Gurk Herman (Michael) of New Orleans, LA, David Gurk of Ann Arbor, MI, and Rebecca Gurk (Stuart Mangel) of Columbus, OH, her grandchildren Katie (Mike Noble) and Peter Herman, Josh, Molly, and Ben Mangel,and her great-grandson, August Noble.

Born to the late Bernard and Helen Auerbach, Maxine was raised in Philadelphia. In 1960 she moved to Princeton with her husband where they found a welcoming community and formed lasting friendships. Maxine was a frequent participant in charitable activities for the town and the local chapters of Hadassah and Jewish Women International. As a JWI member, she visited numerous schools, inspiring children with stories about heroes who fought for tolerance. She was deeply involved in the Princeton Jewish Center and served as president of its Women's Division. Before Princeton Borough and Township consolidated, Maxine served for many years on the Joint Commission on Aging.

As a senior in high school, Maxine chose between two great interests: art and education of young children. She was awarded a scholarship to Moore College of Art but instead accepted one to the University of Pennsylvania, receiving her BS in Education in 1950. While at Penn, she combined her two passions by teaching ceramics at a South Philadelphia settlement house. After graduating, she taught first grade at the University of Pennsylvania's Illman-Carter Children's School, where she served as a demonstration teacher for educators from across the country and abroad. During that time, Maxine earned a qualification for teaching the deaf from Temple University, which she used to teach preschoolers at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and teenagers at the Society of the Friends of the Deaf in Philadelphia.

Maxine met and fell in love with her future husband, Herb, in 1951 while working as an arts-and-crafts counselor at Indian Lake Camp in the Pennsylvania Poconos, where he was also a camp counselor. They married in December1952.

For the last 22 years of her career, Maxine worked at the Rocky Hill Cooperative Nursery School, serving as head teacher and director. She daily marveled at her good fortune to have a job she loved so much. In her retirement, her pleasures included writing memoirs and poetry and continuing her lifelong love of art as a prolific painter, using various media with an emphasis on watercolor. For several years she was the co-curator of the Princeton Jewish Center's art gallery and, after moving to Princeton Windrows, served as an illustrator for a number of Windrows publications. She also enjoyed volunteering in the Grand-Pals program of the Princeton Senior Resource Center, as an English as a Second Language teacher, and as a tutor in Mercer County Community College's Adult Literacy Program.

Services will be held at 11:00AM on Friday, June 9, 2023 at The Jewish Center in Princeton followed by burial in Beth Israel Cemetery, Woodbridge, NJ

Shiva will be observed following the burial at Windrows Princeton, 2000 Windrow Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540 from 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Donations, in memory of Maxine Gurk, may be made to the Jewish Center of Princeton (https://thejewishcenter.org/donation/) or the Princeton Senior Resource Center  (https://www.princetonsenior.org/support/donate/).