Shirley Gibbs

Shirley Guttman Bernick Gibbs died on December 7, 2009 in Santa Cruz. Shirley was 95 and was active until the last month of her life. She was fond of quoting a Russian proverb along the lines of "Old age is not for those lacking courage". Shirley was a small, quiet and dignified woman with a dry sense of humor. She was always, to the best of her ability, independent and self-reliant. The last five years of her life she lived at La Posada and took advantage of all the activities offered, faithfully attending the art and exercise classes, as well as the excursions to places of beauty or interest. A few years ago she would on occasion walk the two miles from La Posada to Pacific Avenue to see a movie or do some shopping. She was also a much loved table companion of the Tuesday Lunch Club for several years. She tried to walk every day. On November 19 she walked about a quarter mile; on November 20 she took to her bed and began to fade toward death. She had expressed her wish not to be taken to a hospital; she was not in pain or obviously ill, but she was very old and ready to leave this world. She died peacefully at 9:30 on the evening of December 7. Shirley Guttman was born in Chicago on May 10, 1914 to August and Tania Guttman. She was the youngest of four children. August and Tania had emigrated from Russia. Life was not easy for the Guttman family in Chicago and August was not in good health. In the summer of 1914, the parents decided to return to Russia and to August's extended family in Zhytomyr, a city some 80 miles west of Kiev in the Ukraine. In the 1920s Zhytomyr's population was about 70,000, including a Jewish population of about 20,000. Once in Zhytomyr, August left to obtain medical help in the Crimea. The Great War began, August did not return, and Shirley, her brother and two sisters, her mother and grandmother remained in Zhytomyr through the very hard times of the war, the civil war between the Whites and the Reds that followed in 1917, and the great hardships of the Ukraine in the 1920s. In 1930 Shirley and her older sister, Celia, both born in America and therefore American citizens, began a long journey back to America. They first went to Moscow and then to Riga in Latvia where they had to stay for several months before they could board a ship for America. Shirley returned to Chicago as the Great Depression was beginning. She found work as a milliner. In 1937 she married Sam Bernick, who had also come from Russia. Their son, Eugene, was born in 1939. Sam died at an early age in 1944. Shirley came to Los Angeles in 1946 with her young son. She made a living working as a seamstress. In 1948 she married Bernard Gibbs. Their daughter, Suzanne, was born in 1950. Shirley and Bernie lived in Los Angeles from 1955 in the Van Nuys and Venice areas until they retired in 1982, when they moved to Desert Hot Springs. After Bernie's death in 2001, Shirley came to Santa Cruz to be near her son. Shirley is survived by her son Sunshine Eugene Gibbs of Santa Cruz, and her daughter Suzanne Knoll of Hawaii.