Bob & Shirley's Family

Shirley and Bob met at a party thrown by Sigma Alpha Mu (Sammy), Bob’s University of Minnesota fraternity. Shirley recalled that she and her friends were very impressed that Bob and his St. Paul buddies arrived “in a CAR!”. Sparks flew, and they began dating. It was a subject of playful gossip among Shirley’s friends that she was dating a boy from St. Paul (considered another distinct culture compared to the insular North Minneapolis Jewish community). Shirley had several interested guys from the old neighborhood write her letters from overseas during the war. But she loved Bob. They got married on March 17^th, 1949. Harry Truman was president. Ray Vaughn’s “Ghost Riders in the Sky” was the hottest song on the radio, along with Dinah Shore, Perry Como, Spike Jones, etc.  The country was filled with post-War optimism, and the Baby Boom was going strong.

Bob and Shirley took an apartment in Minneapolis on Girard Ave. Bob began his first jobs as a lawyer and Shirley worked as a nurse. They had their first two children, Alan and Richie, while living in the Minneapolis apartment. In the summer of 1954, they bought their first home on 1826 Juliet in St. Paul’s Macalester-Groveland area. And in 1955, they welcomed their third child, Susan. In 1964, Bob and a very pregnant Shirley went to the U of M to see a traveling exhibit honoring the recently assassinated JFK. While enjoying the exhibit, Shirley suddenly went into labor and Bob rushed her to the U of M Hospital where their fourth child, Sally, was born. In 1966, Bob and Shirley built their dream home at 1037 Davern, in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood. It was co-designed by Bob and his architect brother, Dan.

They spent weekends at their lake cabin on Half Moon Lake (near Luck and Milltown, Wisconsin). There they entertained family and friends with swimming, water-skiing, boating, great meals and conversations on the deck and the dock.

They came from different backgrounds….Shirley from an Orthodox Jewish family, and Bob from a non-observant Jewish one. Their marriage had its challenges, but they made it work, and left a wonderful family as a legacy. They are both dearly missed by all who had the good fortune to know them.