Selma Obituary

Selma Kravit Shapiro died at her home on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011. Selma was born in 1924 and grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts. In the early years her strong interest in the arts and social service was encouraged by her mother, and she attended art classes at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. At the behest of her father to gain "practical" skills, she later majored in Business at Hickox Business College. It was ultimately those two skills sets that she so marvelously combined into leadership endeavors throughout the rest of her life both at home and at work. Selma married Ted Shapiro in October of 1945 and moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee as part of her husband's involvement with the Manhattan Project. Although the move South was considered temporary in the beginning, she loved it from the moment she arrived. They started a family in 1947 and after 66 years of marriage they have four children, 5 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren. While the children were growing up in Oak Ridge, Selma was an active mother, involved in many community and school activities. She was a troop leader in Girl Scouts, President of the National Council of Jewish Women, and involved with Parent-Teacher Organizations in schools where her children attended. During her involvement in NCJW, an organization with a focus on social services and community, she helped prepare two wonderful cookbooks- "Oak Ridge Cooks" and Oak Ridge Cooks Again". Selma was a great cook, influenced by her mother who turned her own passion for cooking into a catering business known as the Southern House Hotel in Brookline, Mass. Selma saw the cookbooks as a chance to hand down some of what her mother had taught her, and her children are especially grateful for teaching them to make her famous "chocolate roll".
After twenty-seven years as a stay-at-home mom and community volunteer, Selma began to look for job opportunities. In August of 1973 she interviewed for a job at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge (CMOR). She was hired as a Museum Educator and Coordinator of Exhibits/Activities. A few months later she was asked to be the Executive Director. Selma was the heart and soul of CMOR for 32 years, and leaves behind a legacy cherished by the entire community. Numerous awards came along in the wake of her leadership at CMOR. Selma received the Governor's Award for the Arts in 1973. Selma was also the first to win the Gordon Holl Arts Administrator Award from the Tennessee Arts Commission in 1987. This Award recognized her commitment to the museum, having doubled the budget nine times and increased the membership 600% in her first eleven years. Selma was the national president of the Association of Youth Museums from 1986 to 1988 and helped its membership bloom from 38 museums to over 170 museums in only two years. Selma was inducted into the American Association of Museums Centennial Honor Roll in 2006, a tribute to individuals who have worked to innovate, improve, and expand how U.S. museums serve the public. She was a prolific grant-writer and she continued to bring in tremendous financial support to CMOR throughout her career. In 1993 Selma won the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge's Vocational Service Award, to recognize her career in service to the community. She continued her involvement in community affairs after her retirement from CMOR by returning as a volunteer and remaining active in Rotary, both places full of cherished friends. Selma, along with her husband and family, was an active member of the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge for over sixty years, involved there with loving friendships that became like family members to her.

Selma has a large extended family spread out all across the country. She devoted much of her life to long travels to visit with her siblings and encouraging lasting friendships between the cousins, aunts, and uncles. She is preceded in death by her sister Evelyn Clark and Brother Harold Kravit. She is survived by her husband Theodore, her sister Barbara Stearns, her daughter Sandie and son-in-law Barry Guryan, daughter Susan McCarthy and partner Jim Bauer, daughter Ronnie and son-in-law Jim Bogard, and son Philip and daughter-in-law Mary Shapiro; Grandchildren Jonathan and Rebecca Guryan, Cory and Rob Karpf, Nigel Lay, Derek Bogard, and Jordan Bogard. Also surviving are great-grandchildren Max, Gabby, and Andrew Guryan, Emme and Miles Karpf, and Trevor Bogard, and many loving nieces and nephews and friends.
The Funeral will begin with receiving of friends at Martin's Oak Ridge Funeral Home at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, followed by a service at 2:00 p.m. Burial will be at Oak Ridge Memorial Park following the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, 461 West Outer Drive, Oak Ridge, TN 37830 or the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge, 101 West Madison Lane, Oak Ridge, TN 37830