On Tuesday, December 15, 2020, Ethel Filczer Rogatz Krinick passed away. She was an incredibly warm, outgoing, giving person who welcomed and was welcomed by all she met.   Ethel Filczer was born in 1931 in Chicago, Illinois, one of five children of George S. Filczer and Rose T. Filczer. When she was six years old, the family moved to Wood Dale, Illinois where she grew up. She married Alvin Rogatz in 1953 who she met while they worked for Zenith Radio in Chicago and, together they moved to Newport News, Virginia in 1955 where they raised their three children and made many wonderful friends that would last a lifetime.

Raising three children born within three years of each other kept her very busy but that is how she liked it. She was always busy doing something. She was a doer. If not driving her children all over town in a wood panel station wagon and the later embarrassingly in an AMC Pacer while singing along with the radio out of key, she was driving cancer patients to treatment or cerebral palsy children to school. Ethel was a great cook and would frequently make things at home instead of buying at a store if she thought she could do it better or healthier no matter how long it took. She perfected many of her mother-in-law’s traditional recipes and then passed those down to her children and grandchildren. With all that wonderful food in the house, she took to jogging around the first floor to keep in shape.

Ethel was also very active outside the home. She loved to travel and visited much of Europe as well as most of the United States. She was a life member of the National Council of Jewish Women and Hadassah and held various offices in both organizations.
When Alvin died in 2002, she was very fortunate to connect with longtime friend Martin Krinick and they were married in 2005. She and Martin loved to share many dinners and laughs with her family and Martin’s daughter Cathy. She loved playing Monopoly and other board games and doing crossword puzzles with her grandchildren and listening to British comedies with the television as loud as possible.

Ethel leaves behind her three children, Terry Rogatz of Newport News, Virginia, Jeffrey Fisher Rogatz (Sarah) of Wilmington, Delaware, and Janet Rogatz Kruger (Scott) of Williamsburg, Virginia as well as Martin’s daughter, Cathy Krinick, and sister, Carol Wolf of Wood Dale, Illinois, and many nieces and nephews. Her grandchildren, the source of pride and joy for her, are Nathan Rogatz, Henry Rogatz, and Daniel Kruger. Each of her grandchildren has a large dose of Ethel’s joyful spirit in them to carry it into the future.

A private funeral will be held. In lieu of flowers, a donation can be to the National Council of Jewish Women of Hampton Roads, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, or a charity of your choice.

Arrangements are under the care of Peninsula Funeral Home, 11144 Warwick Blvd., Newport News, VA 23601.