Obituary of Shirley Lowenthal
Narbeth, PA
Shirley Lowenthal, a long time member of the Monticello community, passed away on Friday, March 12, at the age of 88. She and her late husband Stanley owned and operated Spector’s Pharmacy on Broadway for nearly four decades. She was a beloved mother, sister, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, cousin and friend. Shirley was born in 1932 to Dora and Jacob Slatkin. She was raised and raised her own children in Monticello, where she lived until her late 60s. Her parents ran Slatkin’s Cottages from roughly 1943 through the 1970’s. It was there that Shirley met her future husband, Stanley. Shirley graduated from Monticello High School in 1950, serving as, among other things, editor-in-chief of the yearbook, and attended Cornell University’s College of Arts and Sciences. Stanley started working at Spector’s Pharmacy in the mid-1950’s, and he and Shirley bought the store from Max Spector in 1960. For the next 37 years, Shirley and Stanley ran the pharmacy together as partners. As a mainstay in the larger Monticello community, Spector’s Pharmacy was the sole local supplier of medicine and medical supplies for the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Shirley was well read, well travelled, and led a deeply engaged and vibrant life. She loved to golf and to play tennis and bridge with friends at Indian Spring Country Club in Boynton Beach, Florida, where she and Stanley had a vacation home and eventually lived full time for decades.
Family and friends remember her as warm, generous, smart, strong willed, tenacious, attentive and determined. Like they were for her father before her, obstacles were meant to be overcome — and family was kept close. For nearly 50 years, Shirley and Stanley hosted their family’s Thanksgiving celebration, which became the annual family reunion.
Shirley is survived by her sisters Florence and Estelle, her sisters-in-law Diane and Elaine (Augie), her daughter Lori (Jerome), and son Mitchell (Ann), grandchildren Justin (Chelsey), Daniel (Kristin), Jake (fiancé Lauren), Helen (Moshe), and Celeste, and great granddaughter Sofia.
In addition to her husband Stanley, she was predeceased by her two brothers Milton and Sheldon.
Should anyone be inclined, in lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation be made to the Jewish National Fund, to plant trees in Israel in her name.
Funeral arrangements are honorably entrusted to the Joseph N. Garlick Funeral Home - Monticello; 845-794-7474 or www.josephngarlickfuneralhome.com.
