Maxine “Micki” Israel Balaban ’51

Maxine “Micki” Israel Balaban ’51, of West Haven, Conn.; May 4. She was involved in several Sock & Buskin theater productions and during her senior year she met her future husband (who predeceased her), Leonard “Red” Balaban ’51. After graduating, she accepted an English teaching position at Pembroke while Red took agricultural extension courses. They married and moved to Bonifay, Fla., to raise black Angus cattle for the next 15 years. In 1967 they moved to West Haven and she attended UConn, graduating with a degree in rehabilitation counseling, which led to work as a guidance counselor at Naugatuck High School for the next 17 years. She was a licensed Reiki practitioner and Gestalt therapist, led writing workshops for incarcerated men and women suffering from addiction, volunteered at an AIDS hospice, and founded a theater company, Theatre West. She is survived by three children, including daughter Rachel Balaban ’80; son Mike ’74; a daughter-in-law; son-in-law John Burnham ’78; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.