Dolores Shapiro

SHAPIRO (SCHNEIDER), Dolores Sue Nurse. Entrepreneur. Volunteer. Matriarch. Dede Shapiro was a strong woman. Dolores Sue Schneider Shapiro, known to all as Dede, was born in Augusta, GA on May 8, 1920. She departed this world on Dec. 2, at age 99, when her body and mind just plain wore out. During her final days, Dede's fondest memories were of her childhood in Augusta, her beloved parents Jake and Harriet Schneider and her siblings Heline, Sophie Lee, and Meyer. A star student and athlete at Tubman High School in Augusta, Dede obtained her RN at University Hospital School of Nursing and worked first in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins Hospital and then at University Hospital in Augusta. It was there that she met the dapper Ben Shapiro. They married on Oct. 5, 1941, a marriage that lasted until Ben's death 50 years later. Their three children - Ben, Jill and Charles - were born in Augusta. The Shapiros moved to Atlanta in 1952. Dede became the administrator of the Ben Massell Dental Clinic in 1955, where volunteer dentists treated patients who could not afford private dental care. In the mid-1960s, she managed the practice of Dr. Perry Brickman. In the 1970s, Dede and Ben opened the Clothes Bin, first on Howell Mill and then a second store in Peachtree Battle Shopping Center. In 1994, Dede "retired" and volunteered with the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, dispensing advice to visitors from her booth in Lenox Square. At Dede's side at the ACVB booth was the friend Dede met her first week in Atlanta in 1952, Hortense Wolf. Dede filled her time with volunteer work, dancing, exercise, The Temple, and the Atlanta Kiwanis Club. Dede and her friends first Jerry Stratton then Ed Jackel loved dining at Atlanta's best restaurants. Dede was matriarch to her three children, their spouses (Nancy, Jim), seven grandchildren (Scott and Laura Shapiro; Bryan, Stephanie and Lauren Thornton; and Jake and Elliot Shapiro), four great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews and all the relatives, near relatives, and want-to-be relatives she could find. Generations of friends, family, Emory students and military personnel shared Passover and Chanukah in Dede's home - first in Colonial Homes, then Collier Road, Westminster Circle, and Cross Creek. Her 90th birthday celebration in 2010 was a joyous event that celebrated her as Mom, Granny, and Aunt Dede. Dede spent her last months with new friends and the caring staff at Vernon Springs Senior Living. Funeral services will be held graveside at Crest Lawn Memorial Park at 2 PM, Thursday, Dec. 5. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a contribution to The Temple or the Kiwanis Foundation of Atlanta. Dressler's, 770-451-4999.