Joan Bopp Shor

1924 - 2016

Joan Bopp Shor ("Joby") Long-time Marin resident Joan Bopp Shor ("Joby") passed away peacefully in Fairfield, California, on Monday, February 15th 2016. She was 91 years old, her birthday Flag Day, June 14th, 1924. Born and raised in Decatur, Illinois, Joby was the daughter of Charles Daniel Bopp, owner of Bopp Motors, the first automobile dealership in her home town, and Edna Rybolt Bopp, whose Kenney, Illinois, farm provided sustenance for the family during the Great Depression. Joby served as the anonymous author of Decatur High School Observer's "Inkslinger" column, which satirized students, faculty and traditions. She was a member of the Poetry Club. She spent much of her free time at the public library, reading all the books on each topic. For choices of college, Joby's father was rooting for his beloved Purdue, even promising flying lessons if she decided to go and take aeronautical engineering. Her mother was pushing the Pi Phis at the University of Wisconsin. To avoid offending either parent, Joby chose a college neither had advocated, Wellesley College, in Massachusetts, a long way from her small Midwestern town. While home from college one summer, she learned to pilot a Piper J Cub aircraft. Joby majored in psychology and minored in mathematics at Wellesley College in the Class of 1946. She worked for a year, then traveled to Europe to repair a youth hostel and spent half a year exploring post-war Europe. In the late 1940s and 1950s, Joby traveled in post-war England, Italy, Norway, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Japan, Hong Kong, Nepal and India. Her travel stories inspired two more generations of world travelers in her family. She completed a PhD in clinical psychology from University of Illinois in the 1950s. She taught psychology at Wells College and Connecticut College. Joby met her husband S. W. Williston "Will" Shor while he was working for Admiral Rickover on the first atomic submarines in Connecticut, moved to New York City after their marriage, and had two children - Peter and Molly. The family moved to Washington DC in 1963, then to Mill Valley, CA in 1973 after Will's retirement as a Captain from the US Navy. Joby supported her husband "Will" Shor's falconry avocation, although her poor eyesight limited her enjoyment of the related field activities. For three decades, Joby and Will co-edited Hawk Chalk, the triannual newsletter of the North American Falconers Association. Will co-founded the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO), which now bands over a thousand hawks each fall on the Marin headlands. Joby was fond of playing tennis, fly-fishing, and bridge. She was a craftswoman, sewing, knitting, and making beadwork necklaces for family and friends. In the 1980s and 1990s, Joby and Will visited Argentina, Chile, Falkland Islands, New Zealand, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia, for fly fishing excursions. Will worked for Bechtel in San Francisco until early 2002 (28-1/2 years) and passed away in 2005. At age 87, Joby moved to a retirement community, Paradise Valley Estates, in Fairfield, CA, where she served on the library committee. She was an avid mystery reader, and loved puzzles and Sudoku. Joby was predeceased by her husband S. W. Williston Shor and brother Charles Dan Bopp Jr. She is survived by her children Peter W. Shor and Molly H. Shor, daughter-in-law Jennifer Collins Shor, son-in-law Aloke Gupta, and her five grandchildren Asha Gupta, Valerie Shor, Julia Shor, David Prashant Gupta, and Arya Gupta. A burial and memorial service will be held for Joby at Fernwood, 301 Tennessee Valley Rd, Mill Valley on Monday, Feb. 22nd 2016 from 10am to noon.