Helen S. Shulan

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Helen Shulan Obituary

Helen S. Shulan, 84, passed Saturday May 22, 2010.

She grew up in Dubuque, Iowa and was a longtime resident of Akron, Ohio. Helen received her degree as Psycho-metrician from Northwestern University. She worked at Evanston Hospital till she met the love of her life, Jay. They were married in 1950 and she then moved to Akron. She worked at Fallsview till she started a family, and then later went to work with her husband Jay at Shulan's Jewelers. Involved in many civic organizations, she also was a lifelong member of Hadassah, NCJW, Temple Israel and always finding homes for stray animals and supporting humane organizations.

Preceded in death by her husband of 50 years, Jay W. Shulan. She was a devoted mother of two sons, David J. Shulan (Mollie) and John L. Shulan (Stacy); she was an adoring grandmother of Jay, Joseph, Evelyn, Andrew, Carolyne, and Victoria.

Funeral service will be held Tuesday, May 25 at Temple Israel, 133 Merriman Road, Akron, Ohio at 10 a.m. Family suggests donations to The Greater Akron Humane Society, One of a Kind Pets, or Temple Israel. Gordon-Flury, 330-836-7980

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Akron Beacon Journal from May 23 to May 24, 2010.

Memories and Condolences
for Helen Shulan

6 Entries

Bruce, Bryan and Debbie Newman

May 26, 2010

Dear John,
We're very sorry to hear about your Mother. We remember meeting her both at your home and at your shop. She was a very lovely lady.
We know what your going thru for we just went thru it with our Father.
Hang in there for time will heal.....
Fondly,

May 25, 2010

Dear John,
I'm so sorry about losing your mother. The many times Doug and I were in your store,she always was so gracious. I had been trying to call your store telephone number,but it just rang and rang. I looked a little farther down and found her obituary. I lost my beloved Doug in March and know the grief with dealing with cancer orany other type of problem and how wonderful Hospice is. I will call at a later date. A former customer who now lives in Florida.
Karen Butenschoen

May 24, 2010

Dearest Caroline and family, our thoughts and prayers are with you . I pray that God will give you the love, strength, and peace as your lives unfold unto a different (but difficult) season. Be still and know that I am God. He knows all,and I am sure that your beautiful nanny is in good hands and feeling very loved, whole and peaceful.
Respectfully, Jan, Hugh and Dean Hutton

May 23, 2010

Dear John,

On behalf of your friends at Steuben Glass , we want to express our deepest and heartfelt condolences to you and your family.
Corinne Oats and Donna Squillace

Diana Paige Sheeks

May 23, 2010

Dear John and Stacy, David and Molly, and Family:
I am so very sorry to hear this. I heard several days ago she was in Hospice and I was just questioning yesterday if I should maybe try to visit her Monday (tomorrow), and if she would think that odd or unwelcome after so many years (I volunteer with a different Hospice at this time), and I did not want to be intrusive at all. I am obviously too late now, and I am sorry for that.
I worked full-time at Shulan's Fairlawn starting in 1979 for 2 years, and for several years part-time afterwards while going to school over summers and holiday breaks. I loved my job there with Helen and Jay. I credit much of my taste and appreciation for the finer crystal and china tableware and style applied later in my design work from what I learned working under Helen, with everything that position exposed to me during those years. At the time it was hard to foresee just how much that would later affect my personal tastes and choices in my own home. And who would have thought I'd ever later appreciate black as my main color in home decor so much later in life? Thank you, Helen.
I also had the pleasure of caring for the family dogs occasionally in their home on Pershing while they travelled, listening to their stories of trips to England to buy Bilston & Battersea boxes, meeting Lord Wedgwood himself at the store one year, and even having Margo Thomas, aka, "That Girl", visit the store in person and sign an autograph for me and talk about her personal choices in china, all the while Helen was beaming so proudly of her beautiful displays of exquisite products.
Helen was feisty, to say the least, keeping vigilant on us, "her girls", as she would refer to us, to hear all about our crazy lives and the various boys in our lives at the time, and of course, always telling us to bring our own dogs any time into the store. Or when she'd pop in when a favorite salesman was coming in, or to check on incoming shipments or spend an entire day working on her infamous store "display windows". They were all Helen and had to be "perfect". Then there was the other side of her, that chased down every stray dog dumped in or behind Fairlawn Plaza, as it was known by then, and the calls she would receive about stray dogs dumped somewhere and off she'd go-on a mission to go rescue them. Helen was always taking them in, finding homes for them, begging friends and customers to take them home or look for a home endlessly. She just had such a huge heart for animals, and especially dogs.
I must say, I have little, if any, knowledge of Jewish beliefs of afterlife and Heaven, so I got on the internet and found Aish.com. There I read a passage by Rabbi Shraga Simmons, of his description of Heaven (after he states there is no reward-punishment system in the sense of other religions have with Heaven and Hell), and I quote:
"Heaven is where the soul experiences the greatest possible pleasure-the feeling of closeness to G-d. Of course, not all souls experience that to the same degree. It's like going to a symphony concert. Some tickets are front row-center; others are back in the bleachers. Where your seat is located is based on the merit of your good deeds."
I believe Helen is at that symphony, front row center, sitting with her beloved Jay, and other family members that have left before her, with all her beloved dogs at her feet. I also believe she was met and welcomed at this performance by former co-workers, Lucille Nickerson, Eddie VonGunten, Shirley Hackett, Harriet Crawford and Amy Comunale Klein, much of whom I feel would be proud to say they, too, were part of the Shulan 'business family' for so many years, and they are having a grand time today.
May you all find strength and comfort at this difficult time in your personal memories of your mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, co-worker and friend. May a piece of her and her traditions live on in you and future generations, the way on much larger scales than she continues to live on inconspicuously in my life.
She was one great lady and will be missed by many in the Akron community.

Joe & Carolyn Sentelik

May 23, 2010

Dear John and Family,
Please accept our heartfelt condolences.

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