Shirley Kahn Browar, 102, of Overland Park, Kansas, died at home on Oct. 5 with her daughter and son at her side.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Elliott Andrew Browar.
Born in New York City on March 9, 1923, to Augusta Ida and Jacob Benjamin Kahn, Shirley was an accomplished student who graduated from high school at 16. She graduated from Hunter College, a member of the Class of 1943, with a degree in geography. Shirley immediately went to work as a cartographer for the Army Map Service, helping create maps used by Army Rangers at the Battle of Montecassino, the Battle of the Bulge and other European battles during World War II. In 1945, prior to the Japanese surrender, Shirley was mapping Manchuria in anticipation of the war’s continuation in Asia.
Shirley met Elliott on a blind date in 1943 several months before he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, where he served in the Pacific theater. After his return, they married in 1946. Together, they raised a family while pursuing their respective careers: Elliott as a labor economist for the US Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Shirley as a secondary school teacher.
Elliott’s career took the family from New York to Chicago to Cleveland and finally Kansas City in 1967, where he was appointed Regional Commissioner of Labor Statistics, retiring in 1986. Shirley retired from teaching several years prior and embarked on a second career as a volunteer for the Friends of the Johnson County Library, where she served as president, presiding over their successful used book sales. Shirley also volunteered as an English language teacher for Russian emigres in a program sponsored by Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City. Together, Shirley and Elliott traveled widely throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel and Mexico.
Shirley was blessed with a beautiful singing voice and a love of music which she passed along to her children and grandchildren, encouraging their own pursuits. And, like all the women in the Kahn family, Shirley was a skilled needlewoman who knitted and crocheted clothing for her children and grandchildren that has been lovingly preserved and handed down to her great-grandchildren.
She was an equally gifted baker whose recipes for Passover honey cake and other baked goods are cherished.
Shirley is survived by her children, Lisa and Jonathan (Lanie); grandchildren, Melissa Vandermark (Jason), Rebecca (J.P. Hinds) and Jason (Sarah Behnke); and great-grandchildren, Mackenzie, Kennedy, Grayson and Lucy (due Nov. 6).
The family wishes to thank St. Luke’s Cardiology, St. Luke’s Home Care and Hospice and her caregivers for their care and compassion throughout Shirley’s final illness.
Graveside services were held on Oct. 10 at Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
