BIOGRAPHY / OBITUARY

Schifra (Sophia) Berman Molk was born December 20, 1897, in Novo Alexandrovsky, Lithuania, at time of wide-spread persecution of the Jewish race.  Her father was a student in the synagogue; her mother, Sarah Hurwitz Berman, ran a small grocery store.  The Berman family immigrated to the United States, where her father first engaged in the furniture business, and later became a farmer in rural Westchester County, New York.

In 1924, Sophia married Isador Molk of El Dorado, Kansas.  The Molks had no children.  The first of her seven published volumes of poetry, A Flame Still Burning, had as its title poem a poignant poem of the yearning for a child.

She became very active in El Dorado, serving for fourteen years as secretary of the Red Cross.  She also served as the county’s chairman of home nursing.  Besides writing and community affairs, she enjoyed sketching, painting and whistling.

After living in several apartments and bungalows around El Dorado, the Molks designed and built a home at 141 North Alleghany in the 1940s.  Built of buff-colored Roman Beauty brick, the home was compact yet containing every modern convenience.  It features several striking features, such as music room’s northeast corner of double glass blocks acting as a prism, letting in light but not the sun.

Well known for her compassionate nature and her singular perceptiveness in recognizing a need to be fulfilled, she gave open-handed support as well as personal attention to many worthy causes.  During her husband’s prolonged final illness, which ended in his death in 1967, she provided constant care.  In later years, she wrote a poem of this time, which read:

           “Folks say to care for the sick is an arduous task.

             I like to think of growing flowers;

             You weed and hoe, weed and hoe, and soon,

             In gratitude, the blooms look up and smile – “

           
In 1969, Mrs. Molk left for a month’s tour of Israel and the Greek islands.  While in Jerusalem, she visited Mrs. Judd Pierson Hall, formerly of El Dorado, and her son, Pierson Hall, U.S. Consul in Jerusalem.  A woman of keen observation, she wrote interesting articles of her travels, which were published in two installments in the El Dorado Times.

Sophia Molk died March 17, 1987 after a long illness.  Following Jewish tradition, her body was placed in a wooden coffin, which was sent to New York to be buried next to that of her husband’s in Mt. Hope Cemetery at Hastings-on-the-Hudson, New York.

She was a member of the Wichita Chapter of Hadassah, a member of the Red Cross Board, and a member of the Butler County Council for UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization).  She attended a conference in New York on behalf of UNESCO.  She also served as publicity chairman for the Girl Scout Council.

A charter member of the El Dorado Prairie Quill Club, founded in 1935, she was also a lifetime member of the Kansas Author’s Club, which she joined in 1939.


CONNECTION TO BUTLER COUNTY

Sophia came to Kansas upon her marriage to Butler County resident Isador Molk, a distinguished scholar, published author, and self-made man who was to become a highly successful and wealthy oilman.

Loyal to her adopted home town of El Dorado, she chose to stay there following her husband’s death, saying, “It is home to me – like my four walls.”  She once penned the following free verse:

                        “A sunflower on the friendly prairie.

                        Her loving arms enfold me;

                        Melodious waves wrap me around;

                        Her halls of culture are exalting.

                        She is a symbol.

                        The city of progress, of peace and order –

                        A shining oasis in a bomb-sick world.”

 

 

COMING TO THE AREA

In June of 1924, Isador Molk of El Dorado began thinking of settling down.  He made a trip to New York in hopes of finding a wife.  His handyman gave him strict instructions: “There’s nothing doing in El Dorado.  Stay till you get married.”

At his sister’s house in New York, he met Sophia Berman.  Later he was to write, “I was looking for a girl with a heart and a soul, and I had found her.”  They were married only one week after meeting and returned to El Dorado.

Being used to the country, she thought she would like El Dorado.  When asked if it was easy to make new friends, she answered, “I said ‘Hello, how do you do,’ and yes, it was easy for me to meet people.”