Elissa Toni (Shavin) Tempkin, 77, passed away on October 26, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. Elissa was born on January 17, 1948 in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of Ruth (Piassick) Shavin and Samuel Joseph Shavin.
Elissa graduated from Grady High School in Atlanta in 1965, where she was the class Valedictorian and President of the National Honor Society. Elissa also served as the President of the Trends Social Club. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1968, where she was a member of the Alpha Chapter of Sigma Delta Tau Sorority. She earned her master’s degree in education with a concentration in reading from the University of Arizona in 1980.
In 1962, Elissa met her first husband, Gary Frank Howard. They married in Atlanta, Georgia in 1968 after her early graduation from Cornell and prior to Gary’s deployment to Vietnam. They had two children, Heather and Ross, and divorced in 1985. Elissa married her second and enduring husband, Donald Lee Tempkin, in 1995.
After college, she taught English in Marietta, Georgia, and Hampton, Virginia, before moving to Austin, Texas, and settling in Tucson, Arizona, in 1974. She was a well-loved teacher of English, Spanish, and drama in the Sunnyside School District in Tucson. She also participated actively in community service organizations such as the Tucson Community Food Bank, Hadassah, the Brandeis National Committee, and the Sierra Middle School Chapter of the Optimist Club.
Elissa adored the ocean and traveling the world with her husband, Donald. She had a lifetime hunger for learning and took many continuing education courses. She had an abundance of joy, laughter, curiosity and love, and took great pleasure in celebrating the people in her life and enabling them to shine.
She is survived by her husband of 30 years, Donald Lee Tempkin, daughter Heather Stacy Howard (Jorge Sanchez Suarez), son Ross Evan Howard (Aimee Miller, Partner), step-daughters Karen Tempkin (Travis Wheeler) and Amy Tempkin (David Sheinbein), and 12 adoring grandchildren.
Memorial donations may be made in Elissa’s honor to the Tucson Community Food Bank or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
