Shirley D. Marks

Our beloved mother, Shirley Marks, passed away at home in Santa Monica on November 27, at the remarkable age of 104.  Her parents, Bill and Kitty Wolff, moved from New York to San Diego in 1920, where Mom was born and raised. She was proud of having attended a Montessori preschool in the 1920s. Her 1935 Woodrow Wilson Junior High graduation program lists her as having the “ideal” sense of humor, and her ambition was to be an aviatrix. She graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in January 1938, when she was 16 (thank you, Maria Montessori, for that headstart!). At Hoover High she wrote for the school newspaper. She started college at San Diego State, but when her family moved to Los Angeles, she became a devoted Bruin and member of Phi Sigma Sigma, graduating from UCLA with a B.A. in Psychology in June 1942.

Mom had a lifelong love of children – she was a “baby whisperer.” She started a playgroup for preschoolers at the Beverly-Fairfax Jewish Community Center, and spent time as a social worker in Los Angeles. During WWII, when the men were off to war and women stepped up to fill jobs traditionally held by men, she worked in an aircraft plant near the L.A. airport. Because she had a college degree, she wasn’t put on the assembly line, but instead got to file documents in an office. She later became an air traffic controller and was sent to Sacramento, where she claimed that about once a week a crop duster would land. Exciting times.

Her wonderful marriage to our late father Irwin lasted just over 40 years, until his death in January 1989. In the early years of their marriage they lived in Glendale, where they lived above the “store” – a liquor store/deli, where Mom cooked corned beef for the deli. (She also made a killer brisket.) After Mom and Dad moved to Mar Vista and later Westwood, she became the best Mom ever, supervising us in tennis, swimming, and piano lessons, and hauling Brownies and Girl Scouts around in our station wagon. She spent many years volunteering at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute (NPI), and that’s where most of our toys and stuffed animals were taken to help children getting treated there.

Mom and Dad loved to travel, whether taking us on summer driving trips to State and national parks, or going on their own trips to Europe, Asia, Israel, the Caribbean, and New Zealand. She was thrilled to see great art, cultural sites, and the beauty of the great outdoors. And she was happy to have gotten sunburned standing on deck all day while transiting the Panama Canal, which she found fascinating.

Our treasured mother was generous, kind, funny, and a liberal to the end. She was thrilled to have cast her first Presidential vote for FDR, and has a button in the kitchen with Nancy Pelosi as Rosie the Riveter that says “a woman’s place is in the House … as Speaker.” She was also a lover of opera, crossword puzzles, pandas, sea otters, and dogs.

Mom was blessed for the past 5 years with an amazing group of 24/7 caregivers that did so much to see that she lived until 104+. Florence, Soraiya, Zubeida, Mary, Sgt. Wiley, and most recently Bandit, have been by her side day and night. We also thank Atefa and Atiya for their care of Mom, and are deeply grateful to Roze Room Hospice and their excellent and compassionate care the past 2½ weeks.

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Mom is survived by cherished daughters Lisa Marks, Valley Village, CA, and Linda Marks (Ralph Lopez), Chevy Chase, MD, and nephew Ron Koff.

Funeral services will be held at Hillside Mortuary in Los Angeles, Tuesday, December 2, at 2:00 pm PST. Zichrona livracha – may her memory be a blessing.

In lieu of flowers, tribute donations may be made in Shirley’s memory to one of the following organizations, or to a charity of your choice:

Self Realization Fellowship, Lake Shrine: lakeshrine.org (“Donations” & use the dropdown menu to get to “Lake Shrine General Donation”)

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance: sdzwa.org/memorial, or mailed to P.O. Box 120551, San Diego, CA 92112

World Central Kitchen: donate.wck.org