By Albert Amateau
Andrea W. Selkirk, an East Village resident for 30 years who worked for the New York University maintenance department for the past nine years, died Aug. 11 at Bronx Lebanon Medical Center after a long illness. She was 60.
Born in Buffalo, she went to Bard College for two years and then came to Manhattan where she lived first on Forsyth St. and then on E. Seventh St. In the 1980s, she enrolled in the Non-Traditional Employment for Women program and became a plumber.
She worked as a freelance plumber for the next 13 years, mostly in the East Village.
“She often donated her time and skill to nonprofit organizations,” said Kim McAdams, her life partner of 20 years. “Her life was characterized by two words, bravery and tenacity.”
Andrea W. Selkirk was the daughter of the late George Holden Selkirk and Kathleen O’Brien Selkirk, of Buffalo and East Aurora, N.Y. In addition to her partner, her survivors include two brothers, Henry B. Selkirk, of La Honda, Cal., and George H. Selkirk, of Chapel Hill, N.C.; three sisters, Lisa Selkirk, of Amherst, Mass., Mary Selkirk, of Berkeley, Cal., and Kathleen DeSilvey, of Belfast, Me.; an aunt, Alice O’Brien Dellinger, of Buffalo; and an uncle, Pliny H. Hayes, of Buffalo.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sun., Sept. 23, at the Lower East Side Ecology Center community garden on E. Seventh St. between Avenues B and C.
