Elizabeth (Guembel) Vorenberg was born in Worms, Germany on April 6, 1920. She moved to Frankfurt in 1935 to attend one year in a Jewish home economic school, after which she worked in Dusseldorf until 1939. Three weeks before World War II broke out, after waiting nine months to receive her passport, she was able to leave Germany for London, England. Once there she found a job in the “Home for Unwed Mothers,” a Protestant establishment for which the British government allowed only room and board and no salary.
In 1940, Elizabeth arrived in the United States and settled in New Orleans, where she received a scholarship at Touro Infirmary School of Nursing. She became a registered nurse in 1943. Following her graduation, she moved to Denver, Colorado and met her future husband, Fred Vorenberg, at a newly formed club, “The ’46 Club,” of Jewish newcomers at a nearby synagogue. They married nine months later and had four children. Fred and Elizabeth ranched in Colorado for 36 years before retiring in El Paso. Elizabeth became an active volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association. She moved back to Colorado after Fred’s death in 2005. Elizabeth died on January 10, 2016.
Connecting Stories: Fred Vorenberg