Shirley Bob, 94, of Los Altos, died in her home on August 1. She was the daughter of the late Samuel and Rebecca Kaplan.
Shirley was born in Springfield, MA and grew up in Troy, NY. There she met the love of her life, the late Fred Bob, who became her husband and dance partner.
Shirley was a pillar of Jewish communal life her entire adult life.
As a young mother, she was a co-founder of the Livingston Jewish Center in Livingston, New Jersey in the early 1950s. Later, when they moved to Minneapolis, Shirley and Fred co-founded the Married Couples League at Congregation Adath Jeshurun. She also served as regional president of Women's American ORT in Minnesota.
Upon moving to Los Altos, Shirley became deeply involved in the South Peninsula Jewish community, and especially, Congregation Kol Emeth. At Kol Emeth, she became President of Sisterhood, ran the Gift Shop for ten years, and assigned High Holiday Honors for many years. Most recently, she was involved in the effort to build a new building for Kol Emeth. She died a few days after the occupancy permit was granted, and on the same day that the first Shabbat service was held at the new facility.
Outside of Kol Emeth, Shirley was also involved in leadership in the South Peninsula with Hadassah, Women's American ORT, and the Jewish Community Federation Women's Division.
For 26 years Shirley and her daughter Ellen were the proprietors of bob and bob, a Jewish book and gift store in Palo Alto.
Among her other volunteer interests were crafting tactile maps for blind students in Minnesota and supporting Abilities United in Palo Alto.
Shirley was the mother of Steven (Tammie) Bob, Kenneth (Nancy) Bob, and Ellen (David Waksberg) Bob; grandmother of Lisa Howard, Gideon (Molly) Bob, Abigail (Asaf) Nagola, Raphael (Dahvi Waller) Bob-Waksberg, Becky Bob- Waksberg, Amalia (Ryan Church, Fiancé) Bob- Waksberg, Shani (Omer Yosef) Bob, Amit (Adina Teibloom) Bob, and Netta (Anna Swartz) Bob; great-grandmother of Nat, Julia and Ethan Howard, Naama, Talia and Ayala Nagola, and Kira and Jonah Bob; and aunt of Janet (Allen Sanders) Hesslein and the late Laura Hesslein.
Shirley's funeral will be on Tuesday, August 4 at 10 AM.
To attend a live stream of the service go to <https://www.etzchayim.org/etz-chayim-streaming.html>
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