WHY "OODLE"?

Dr. Eaman named this new practice after her mother, Allyn Ravitz, who passed away 9/30/2016. Oodle was her mother's Hebrew name, an unforgettable name for an unforgettable woman.

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A longtime Detroit-area attorney and activist most recently of Novi, Michigan, Allyn Carol Ravitz died September 30th, 2016 at 74 years old, after a years-long battle with corticobasal syndrome, a neurodegenerative disease as rare and unique as she was.

Allyn was brilliant, witty, gregarious, goofy, generous, loving and strong. She was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, but she was raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, right outside of Manhattan. Her love of all things New York City - from Broadway to real cheesecake - never faded, even after Michigan became her home. She was a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the University of Detroit School of Law. The latter she attended while pregnant and after University of Michigan Law School turned her down for a scholarship because she was married to a man who already had a degree from the school. That injustice fueled what already burned inside her. Starting in the early 1970s, she was on the frontlines of second-wave feminism. She served as legal counsel for the National Organization of Women in Michigan, was a devoted pro-choice activist and advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment. She helped establish the nation's first all-women's credit union, the Feminist Federal Credit Union, and worked to change the Fair Housing Act to stop discrimination against women and mothers. She organized a fundraiser to help successfully defend two women who'd killed their rapists in self-defense. Gloria Steinem and Lily Tomlin showed up to speak. Florence Ballard, one of the original members of The Supremes, came and sang an a cappella version of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman." She was later featured in "Passing the Torch," a documentary about feminism in Michigan, and in the book "Feminists Who Changed America (1963-1975)."

Allyn Ravitz was a force to be reckoned with in courtrooms. She was credited with trying (and winning) the first sexual harassment jury trial in the country. She represented female steel workers who were forced out of their jobs when they became pregnant. Her law practice, representing women and men in discrimination and divorce proceedings, flourished through the late 1990s, when she retired. She remained an activist after retirement. She was involved with the Michigan Democratic Party and continued marching for civil rights, both for women and the LGBT communities. She loved animals and her many pets over the years. She fought for swans on Wolverine Lake, where she lived for several decades. If she could have hugged otters, she would have. She enjoyed travel and had an adventurous spirit. She rafted down the Colorado River, sailed along the Eastern seaboard in a racing schooner, fly fished in Argentina, saved leatherback sea turtles in St. Croix and rode horseback on the beaches of the Dominican Republic. She was a cultured intellectual who appreciated the finer things in life. But she was also a fan of the irreverent animated sitcom South Park and was a sucker for foods like Drake's Devil Dogs and White Castle hamburgers.

Allyn had a gift for music. She sang and harmonized up until about a week before she died. She once won an Alan Freed Rock 'n' Roll Dance Party contest. She was a masterful pianist who couldn't read music and played by ear. When she was of college age, she played in jazz clubs in New York. 

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Her history and love of music was featured in a special Mother's Day article at CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/12/health/soundtrack-mothers-day-allyn-ravitz/index.html