Ena Marie Soflin

Ena Marie Soflin was raised on a college campus, grew up to become the superintendent of two school districts, explored almost the entire country in an RV and spent her retirement loving and helping anyone who asked. She was a ray of light that refused to stay on a straight path. When asked what she wanted people to remember about her one-day in 2017, she replied "Certainly not the dust on top of things!”. Ena was a teacher who asked the children to color outside the lines. She was an avid reader. She prized herself on living many lives; one as a ballroom dancer – in another, a violinist. In all of them she shined.

Ena was born Sunday, March 18, 1934, in Grants, NM, and passed away Wednesday, April 22, 2020, in Albuquerque, NM. Born to Guy Hamilton Rush and Ena Mae (Todd) Rush. However, she always said she had three mother- her birth mother passed away when she was just 5 days old. At that time, she went under the care of her mother’s best friend, Marie Hufstettler. Her father remarried and when she was three years old, she went to live with him and his wife, Carmille Holley Rush, on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Her father worked for the Federal Corps of Engineers and Carmille was a professor. “I had a childhood on a magical campus” Ena recalled. She remembered reading atop the branches of the birch tree outside the library and wading through the cobblestone campus fountains.

It was her childhood, she said, that made her want to become a teacher. "That is what I wanted for all children - to have magical school experiences. She began teaching in 1954 and taught for a total of 26 years in Illinois, Michigan and New Mexico. In 1980, she made the transition from instructor to administrator, serving as a curriculum director for three years and retired 13 years after serving as superintendent of a California school district and New Mexico school district. She said her 42 years in education were 'incredible!'

There were other incredible moments in Ena's life. One was meeting her husband Gordon, "it was the most amazing thing" she recalled about holding Gordon's hand for the first time. “You hear about it but you don't believe it." She remembered feeling an electric-like current between her and Gordon as they held hands at a teachers’ retreat in Albuquerque in 1969. At that same retreat, and throughout their lives, Gordon taught her how to trust. Another treasured moment was becoming a mother to three children, Cherie, Scott, and Craig, and then later becoming a grandmother to their children. Ena was an adoring great-grandmother. She hoped that her family would continue to live their lives as she had - with "unconditional love of whatever the children do, are, become." She said "You have to take people where they are and accept them."

Ena's son, Scott, suffered a debilitating heart condition at the age of 48 and Ena spent her days caring for him and her husband who, at that time, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She became a full-time caregiver and treasured those days. From then on, she came to the aid of anyone who needed it. When she could no longer lift a wheelchair, she provided companionship. "I take care of people who need someone," she said. "I think that's who I'll be forever."

In 2008, she learned to live without Gordon when he passed, and in 2014, she learned to live without Scott, when he also passed. About that same time she said she learned to forgive. "I finally understood that I am a child of God. I was always in control, and that is a terrible place to be," she said. "Without forgiveness, you’re still trying to stay in control. You can’t solve everything."

Ena was a member of the American Association of University Women, Phi Delta Kappa, the Kiwanis Club, and Asbury United Methodist Church. For a time she led the church's grief support group. About grief she said, "You have to walk straight through grief. And one morning you will wake up and realize you are on the other side. But don't think that is the end, because that is the beginning of another chapter."

Ena's service will be held at a later date.