An early morning house fire in Benicia last week took the life of Ellyn Levin, 82, and left her husband, Danny Levin, 82, hospitalized. The couple belongs to Congregation B’nai Shalom in Walnut Creek.
According to the Benicia Herald, the Dec. 5 fire started accidentally, was first reported at 2:06 a.m. by a newspaper carrier and caused $250,000 in damages. Firefighters broke into the house and pulled the couple from a rear bedroom, the paper reported, rushing them to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Vallejo.
The Levins later were transferred to the burn center of St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, where Ellyn Levin died a few hours later. Her husband remained a patient there as of midweek.
The Levins have been members of B’nai Shalom since 1998.
“The Levins are a lovely, warm couple very dedicated to the community,” B’nai Shalom Rabbi Aderet Drucker said. “We respect that the first days of mourning are a time of reflection with friends and family, and for now we join in that. Ellyn was a wonderful woman who was a treasured part of the community and will be deeply missed.”