Sheana Abrams

Sheana Abrams, a pillar of the Phoenix Jewish community, passed away Wednesday. She was 68 years old.

A native of Dallas, Texas, Sheana was born in 1957 to hospital administrator Don Cosper and bookkeeper Jeannette Cosper. From an early age, she was known to be wildly capable and fiercely independent. By age 16, she was living on her own, supporting herself with such jobs as a Kmart layaway attendant, restaurant hostess, and eventually a banker.

Through more than 20 years in the banking industry, many of which spent in southern California, Sheana served celebrity clients and fought for equal wages and a number of promotions-no small task, she said, for a woman without a college education in the 1980s and 1990s. By 2002, she had worked her way up the ladder to the role of Vice President at Republic Bank in Weston, Florida.

In 2002, Sheana relocated to Phoenix with her four children. There, she shifted her attention from career to community service by getting involved at Har Zion Congregation (now Congregation Or Tzion). She was a member of sisterhood, volunteered in the gift shop during religious school hours, and served as Education Chair. She developed a reputation for her colorful floral skirts, assortment of purses, ornate jewelry, and dry sense of humor-all things that religious school students looked forward to when visiting her at the snack cart.

In 2007, after five years away from work and facing financial hardship, Sheana found Temple Chai with the help of a close friend and became the receptionist. Before long, she became the Operations Coordinator, a job that included maintenance staff management, facility and room reservations, event planning, graphic design, life cycle assistance, member relations, fundraising, and innumerable additional responsibilities. She was well-known and well-loved by temple members, who often said that she basically ran the place. She proudly served the Temple Chai community until 2023.

There were two roles that Sheana said were more important to her than anything else in the world: being a mom and being a bubbe. From 1979 on, her life revolved around Sara, Zac, Dylan, and Tyler. She overcame unimaginable private obstacles to keep them safe and to provide the best lives possible for all of them. She considered her two daughters-in-law, Heather Abrams and Maria Bautista, her own children and notably introduced them to people as her daughters. She described her grandchildren, Aurora and Amelia as her "air" and the very best parts of her life. Nothing made her happier than having her entire family in the same room, enjoying food, wine, and laughter together.

In addition to her children and grandchildren, Sheana is survived by her father, her stepmother Sue Cosper, her sister Tina Crupe, her brother-in-law Mike Crupe, and her niblings: Tiffany Crupe, Jenni Hopkins, and Brandon Crupe.

Funeral services are scheduled for Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Mt. Sinai Cemetery in Phoenix. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Sheana's name to the Temple Chai Early Childhood Center so her legacy as Aurora's and Amelia's bubbe may live on.