Age 56. 62 Clements Road, Newton, MA. Born on 6/06/1886, in Russia. Died of carbon monoxide poisoning (death certificate). Housewife (death certificate). Husband Herman, age 58 (Born 1/16/1884, in Dobvanka, Russia. Died 1/15/1966, age 81. Last residence Boston), New England regional manager, Monogram Pictures, Inc., of Hollywood, CA. Also owner of Liberty Theatres, Inc. (movie house chain), Springfield, MA, was injured. With her husband co-hosted an impromptu party for touring veteran Monogram cowboy actor Charles "Buck" Jones, age 50, dead, at their Newton home. Group gathered at 7:30 p.m., then went by car into town to reunite at the club entrance about 9:30 p.m., where Mr. and Mrs. Rifkin continued as hosts. "Among the victims taken to the Massachusetts General Hospital...was the wife of a movie company executive who had entertained a movie star and a party of 20 at the Grove. Identity could not be immediately established" (The Boston Sunday Globe, 11/29/1942). Her remains were transported to Southern Mortuary, Boston. "The body of Mrs. Herman Rifkin, wife of the owner of Liberty Theaters, was unmarked" (Springfield Republican, Springfield, MA, 12/04/1942). Her recovering husband made news when he donated $500 to the Red Cross War Fund in her memory with a message: "The splendid work and competent manner in which the Red Cross took hold during this disaster is still vivid in my mind" (The Boston Evening Globe, 3/03/1943). To the U.S. in 1890. Survived by adult children Mrs. Selma Rabinowitz, age 32, and son Julian, age 27. Was the oldest female patron victim of the fire (of 227 women guests dead), at 56 years, 5+ months. With her husband was the eldest couple known present at the club, a combined 114 years of age. Husband returned to the news headlines when a second marriage ended with sensational five-month front-page divorce proceedings in the spring of 1948 (the blaze was referenced when the plaintiff second wife was asked during cross-examination if a May 1947 altercation might have caused her husband's ear to bleed. Boston Traveler, 3/10/1948: "Q. 'Well, you knew he had been burned in the Cocoanut Grove fire and his skin was very sensitive?' A. 'Yes, but I didn't know his ear was burned'"). Ruling was made in favor of Mr. Rifkin on the grounds of "cruel and abusive treatment" (Boston Traveler, 5/12/1948). Parents Mr. and Mrs. Shepsul and Eva (Sugarman) Elias. Burial at Mount Lebanon (Crawford Street Memorial Park) Cemetery, West Roxbury (Boston), MA. Despite two later wives (including that above) her survivor husband was buried by her side upon his January 1966 death.

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