Gloria Shirley Rothman

ROTHMAN - Gloria Shirley, died peacefully on Thursday October 6, 2022 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in her 99th year. Born April 30, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of Sally (Greenbaum) and Saul Hartnick. She grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and in 1942 from Hunter College (now part of the City College of New York). After graduation, in the midst of World War II, Gloria worked first as a buyer at a large department store and later as an executive secretary for the Navy. In 1944 she married Martin Rothman, M.D., a then-recent graduate of Tufts Medical School, shortly before he left to serve his country in the Pacific Theater. After the war they settled in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where Gloria managed her husband's pediatric practice, in addition to her full-time role of raising three children, James (a scientist and Yale professor), Richard (a psychiatrist and retired NIH scientist), and John (a retired lawyer living in Norman OK and formerly of Tulsa). Gloria was a devoted wife and mother. During their numerous years in Haverhill Gloria and Martin made many lifetime friends and were active participants in the local Jewish communities of Temple Emanuel and B'nai B'rith. In addition, Gloria energetically developed her innate artistic skills during many years of training at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and she generously provided the family with a cherished collection of superb watercolors and oil paintings. Soon after Martin retired from practice in 1983, the couple re-located, first to Cape Cod (Massachusetts) for many years; then to Westhampton (New York) for several years; and finally in 2003 moved to Tulsa to be near their son, John. Martin died in Tulsa in 2005 at age 90. Gloria had one sibling, a younger brother (Alan Hartnick, a retired lawyer) who died in New York City in 2018. In addition to her three children and two loving daughters-in-law, Gloria leaves behind 7 loving grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. In her youth Gloria was a formidable presence with an incisive intelligence, who as she aged grew to become a source of wisdom and inspiration on whom three generations came to rely. She will be sorely missed. Donations in Gloria's honor can be made to the Zarrow Pointe Retirement Community, located in Tulsa.