Charmaine G Slotnick
May 18, 1936 - February 21, 2022
She was born into a large and loving Jewish family in Chicago. She was close with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who were immigrants from Belarus and Lithuania. She was the first child of Dorothy and Yale Goodkin, her warm and loving parents. Soon she became a big sister to Roberta. Five years later, the family moved to Los Angeles, where Yale had great success in business. She graduated from Fairfax High, and UCLA. There she met lifetime family friend Aaron Epstein, who introduced her to Tacoma native David Slotnick, husband of 66 years. In 1956, they married at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, having a grand Hollywood style wedding. For eleven years mom and dad lived in Los Angeles where Karen, Linda, and Sheila were born. In 1967 Charmaine and David moved to dad’s beloved Pacific Northwest, choosing to raise the family in Bellevue, Washington.
Charmaine was a skilled cook and well known for creating amazing meals. Although they were a family of five, she cooked for 10, educating herself on macrobiotic and tofu cookery, and cuisine from around the world. They looked forward to dinnertime every night, when she would grace us with savory culinary excellence.
She was a natural beauty and a free spirit. She loved and appreciated simple pleasures. A beautiful Spring day or a successful loaf of her incredible homemade bread made her happy. She took pleasure in gardening. She especially loved to watch flowers grow and bloom. She was a pioneer when it came to organic foods, recycling, using environmentally friendly household supplies, sunscreen (and wearing a hat), and was a member of the League Of Women Voters. For most of her life she danced, swam, walked and took great care of her body. She loved her pets, (a lifetime of about 15 cats) most recently, Whitey and Freddy. She had a keen sense of humor and always greeted people with a smile. She loved to kibitz and had a knack for making people feel comfortable due to her genuine interest in them.
She is survived by her husband David Slotnick, and daughters Karen, Linda and Sheila, grandchildren Aaron, Ali, Sara, and Charlii, and great-grandchildren Eva and Silas, and also her three very special sons-in-law’s, Dan, Scott, and Amir. Her sister Roberta and her brother-in-law, King and a lifetime of family friends too.