Ellen M. Abdunafi

Ellen Maudell Abdunafi was the eldest daughter and second eldest of nine children born to the late Ellen Martha Roach Robbins and the late Preston Robbins, Sr. in Jersey City, NJ on September 8, 1944. After spending part of her early years being raised and educated in the Jersey City Public School System up until the middle of junior high school, the very proud Robbins family moved to a small residence located at 76 South Park Street in Elizabethport, NJ. As a result of this relocation, Ellen completed her eighth & ninth grade education at Grover Cleveland Junior High School. After graduation, she attended Battin High School, which in the early 1960s was a high school for girls. She loved to sing. She was so good that she sang in Battin High School’s All-State Chorus. She was also a good student who believed in the importance and value of education. She chose to pursue a career in nursing and took the preparation courses offered at Edison High School, passed her exam and became a Licensed Nurse Practitioner. After graduation from Battin High School in 1962, she became a resident nurse at John Reynolds Hospital in Berkeley Heights, NJ. During her residency, she met and fell in love with Wakil Abdunafi, a former US Army soldier, laborer and devout muslim man. She converted to Islam and they married in 1968. They moved into a little house at 1035 William Street in Elizabeth. From this union they had two sons and one daughter. During those early years on William Street she worked as a nurse and he worked as a laborer. Eventually, her husband’s fight for equal opportunity for work assignments and fair treatment for himself and other African American laborers out of Local 394 took its toll on the family. As a result, they relocated to their new residence at 19-C Migliore Manor in Elizabethport where Ellen continued to support her husband and her children while he continued to fight the good fight for equality until his very last breath. In spite of the extreme hardship placed on her shoulders, she managed to survive and overcome through the grace of God, with support from her friends, family, the Elizabethport Presbyterian Center and the Presbyterian Church. Ellen accepted a job as a taxicab driver and worked for a few different companies for over 17 years in order to support her three young children—each of whom managed to later attend and graduate from college. As it turned out, she loved to drive and to socialize with her customers. Even though she didn’t make a lot of money, she took great pride in her work. She was also a very passionate amateur photographer of people and places in the Elizabethport community. She was committed to helping other people at all times. She loved her family and others so much that she opened her home for some youth in the community to live with her when they needed a place to live. Her love and commitment to others eventually led to her appointment as a Commissioner of Public Housing. Later, she served the City of Elizabeth in the Department of Health & Human Services as a Public Health Investigator—a position she enthusiastically served with pride, strength and dignity until her retirement. She was a member of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the historic First Presbyterian Church, in Elizabeth, NJ, where she became a Church Elder. Upon her retirement, she relocated to Baltimore, Maryland and spent the rest of her days enjoying the company of her family watching her favorite television programs, cooking and shopping. She had awesome and unforgettable experiences traveling to Paris and the Bahamas with her daughter. She also loved spending time with her new friends in the local area while maintaining close ties with her family in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other parts of the country and, especially, with her lifelong best friend, Brenda Brown. After a struggle with personal illness, she entered into eternal rest at home on Monday, April 6, 2020 surrounded by family. She is predeceased by her parents, her husband, her brothers—Frederick Paul Robbins, Robert Adam Robbins, Preston Robbins, Jr., & William Henry Oliver Robbins and, on the same day, her brother-in-law James Franklin Simmons. She leaves to cherish her memory her brother Charles Rene Robbins & Sister-in-Law, Paulette Robbins, Cerise Lorraine Simmons, Gerard Earl Robbins & Sister-in-Law, Luz Santa Cruz, and Robin Eve Graham; her children—sons Amir M. Abdurahman & Malik Abdunafi, daughter Sabourah A. Abdunafi, her adopted son/nephew William Robert Robbins, and adopted daughter Erica Henrietta Campbell; eight grandchildren I’Jaz McCallum, Kareem Abdunafi, Rabia Abdunafi, Zahira Abdunafi, Sundiata Adisa Campbell Abdunafi, Lemar Davis, Anisha Ariel Robbins, and William Ricky Robbins, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends.

Tributes

Ellen M. Abdunafi

September 8, 1944 - April 6, 2020