When Audrey Sara (Englebardt) Zalutsky z”l, “Nunni” to her family, moved from Chicago to Salem in 1960 with her husband, Morton Zalutsky, her mother, Augusta, in Schenectady, N.Y., pulled out her atlas to find it. “Oh, that is far,” she said, Chicago being the farthest west anyone in her family had ever lived. And while Audrey struggled to adapt to the rain that first year, soon she never wanted to live anywhere else than her beloved Portland. 
Audrey passed away Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, at Washington Gardens Memory Care in Tigard, after a near 15-year battle with Alzheimer’s, with her beloved husband of 66 years, and her family at her side. Born April 9, 1935, in Schenectady, N.Y., to Augusta, a homemaker, and Samuel Englebardt, a lawyer, Audrey was a loving daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend. She met Mort while they were still in high school at a cousin’s birthday party, where the girls had to put one shoe in a basket for the boys to choose from.
Audrey loved dance and school, and excelled at both. She grew up surrounded by a large extended family, including her two brothers, Marvin and Carl. At Knott Terrace High School, she was the captain of the cheerleading team and a dancer and also one of the top students. Audrey majored in sociology at Skidmore College, where she was a member of the Periclean Society (Phi Beta Kappa) and continued to pursue her love of dance. After college, Audrey and Mort married and moved to Chicago, where he studied law at the University of Chicago and she worked as a secretary in a doctor’s office, and where Jane was born. 
After law school, they moved to Salem, Ore., in 1960, where Diane was born. From the beginning of her life in Portland, Audrey was active at Congregation Neveh Shalom and the Jewish Community Center, teaching in the Sunday School and pre-school. She continued to dance with a local company as well. When their son, Sam, born in Portland, started grade school, Audrey returned to school at Portland State University to get her Master of Social Work in the early 70s.
Audrey was active in the Jewish community and a loyal supporter of the arts, especially Chamber Music Northwest and Portland Center Stage. She spent over 25 years as a medical social worker at Good Samaritan Hospital, counseling patients and families during and after their hospital stays. Whether in her professional or personal life, people always recognized Audrey’s warm personality and generous spirit.
For all of her obvious kindness Nunni was also fierce. Fiercely intelligent, fiercely moral, fiercely loyal. And she believed in her family and friends fiercely. She immersed her children in the arts because it brought her so much joy. She studied classical piano for many years and also studied painting. She was obsessed with the New York Times crossword puzzle, enjoyed trying new Portland restaurants, and had a strong sweet tooth, especially loving chocolate and ice cream. Her favorite activity was weekends on the Oregon Coast with Mort, where she could walk for hours.
She is survived by Mort, Jane Zalutsky and Mark Kantor of Cle Elum, Wash.; Diane Zalutsky Alexander and Kent Alexander of Atlanta; Sam Zalutsky and Ed Boland of New York City; grandchildren, Nicki and Kayla Alexander, and Josh and Lane Kantor, as well as her brother and sister-in-law, Carl and Kathy Englebardt of Niskiyuna, N.Y.; sister-in-law Sabra Englebardt of Boulder, Colo. Her beloved brother, Marvin Englebardt, predeceased her.
The funeral was held Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, at Congregation Neveh Shalom, led by Rabbi Eve Posen, with the burial at Ahavai Shalom cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to Daughters Against Alzheimer’s (https://www.daughtersagainstalz.org/).