Texas Jewish Post (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 21, 2020 Page: 14 of 16
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OBITUARIES
TEXAS JEWISH POST $ SINCE 1947
14 I May 21,2020
Marion Jean Allen
Marion Allen
Barbara Bernstein
Granite • Marble • Bronze
and friendship*
I L
WE SUPPORT ISRAEL!
■ X
Serving the Jewish community
with dignity, compassion
8921 C.F. HAWN FREEWAY,
DALLAS, TEXAS 75217
(214) 398-4459
Fax: (214) 398-6672
DON SPRADLING, PRESIDENT
HOME: (972) 222-0672
GARY SPRADLING, VICE PRESIDENT
SPRADLING I
MONUMENT
SERVICE, INC,
E.C. “TREY” HARPER III
1500 8th Ave., Fort Worth, Texas 76104 • (817) 924-4233
rmh@familyowned.net • robertsonmuellerharper.com
in
13,
1
o
ROBERTSON MUELLER
HARPER
Funeral Directors Since 1881
continued her interest in
fashion.
After the war, she
and Dr. Allen raised two
children and had a won-
derful 67-year marriage.
She loved to travel, and
the family took many
car trips to Cape Cod
and Estes Park, Colorado. After
the kids grew up, she and Dr. Al-
len continued traveling, visiting
Europe, Hawaii and Hong Kong.
She and Dr. Allen loved to dance
and play golf. They had many
friends in St. Louis and enjoyed
hosting get togethers.
She loved shopping for an-
tiques and exploring small
towns in Illinois, Missouri and
the Texas Hill Country along
the way. She was an avid reader,
which provided a wide fund of
knowledge to complement her
amazing memory. Into her mid-
908, she completed The New
York Times crossword puzzle
every Sunday. She loved visiting
her daughter and her two grand-
children in Vermont and her son
in Dallas. She and her husband
moved to Dallas in 2004, when
Dr. Allen’s health was failing,
and she cared for him during his
long illness. She continued to
keep up with her grandchildren
and then was able to meet her
two great-granddaughters and
Barbara Sharon Bernstein,
beloved wife, mother,
grandmother, sister,
aunt, niece and friend to
all, passed away Tuesday,
May 12, 2020 after a
valiant struggle with
York area. They eventually made
a home in Hewlett Bay Park,
where they raised three boys,
Josh, Jed and Jesse.
Barbara and Mel were hard
working entrepreneurs. They
opened up a shop called the
Chambered Nautilus right in the
heart of Central Avenue in the
5 Towns which became known
as the go-to place for beautiful
shells and gifts, and which they
ran together every single day for
nearly two decades. In 1987, they
got an opportunity to be a part of
something big in Dallas, the now
defunct West End Marketplace.
As true adventurers, Mel said
“let’s go,” and Barbara agreed
and followed along. In Dallas,
as a team, they built and ran
successful stores in Valley
View, Prestonwood and Town
East Malls then Poster America
J
Barbara
Bernstein
Alzheimer’s. Her loving husband
of 53 years, Mel was by her side.
Barbara was born April 15,
1943 in Brooklyn, New York
where she and her brother Jeff
were raised by her mother Ruth
Laurans. Barbara married Mel
Bernstein on December 10,
1967, and they remained by each
other’s side and happily married
until Barbara passed away.
Barbara and Mel lived their early
years together searching for a
place to lay down their roots,
as they basically sold seashells
by the seashore all over the New
enjoy many pictures of all five of
her great-grandchildren.
She is survived by her son,
Dr. Michael Allen, of Dallas;
her daughter, Mary Allen Stifler
and son-in-law, Dr. David Stifler
of Essex, Vermont; her grand-
daughter, Emily Stifler Wolfe
and husband Patrick Wolfe of
Bozeman, Montana; her grand-
son Andrew Stifler and his wife
Caroline Stifler of Charlotte,
Vermont; her great-grandchil-
dren Eloise and Augustus Wolfe
of Bozeman, Montana; and her
great-grandchildren Madeline,
Bowdoin and Finley Stifler of
Charlotte, Vermont.
A small family memorial
service took place at Hillcrest
Memorial Park April 26, 2020.
Condolences may be offered at
Dallas Jewish Funerals www.
jewishfuneralsUSA.com.
Marion Jean Allen,
99, passed away April
23, 2020, in Dallas.. She
was born Feb. 28, 1921,
to Michael and Char-
lotte Sherman (Kessel)
in St. Louis, Missouri.
She grew up in Staunton, Illi-
nois, reading books, climbing
trees and playing golf. With her
father, she attended many St.
Louis Cardinals baseball games,
and particularly loved the 1934
Gas House Gang team.
She graduated salutatorian
in 1939 from the all-girls high
school at Monticello College
in Godfrey, Illinois, where she
learned to ride horses. She con-
tinued a lifelong interest in the
sport of horse racing and at-
tended many US racetracks.
She graduated Smith College in
1942 with a BA in History, and
maintained a lifelong interest in
American and World History,
particularly in WWII.
In 1943, in St. Louis, Mis-
souri, she married Dr. Melvin
Allen of O’Fallon, Illinois. She
went with Dr. Allen to Alabama
for his U.S. Army basic train-
ing before he left for Europe to
serve in WWII. In his absence,
she worked for the St. Louis Post
Dispatch fashion page, which
and Artworks, where
Mel ran the back of the
house, building and
framing, and Barbara
ran the front of the
house with a keen and
hip eye for fine art. She
greeted everyone with
her joyous smiling face.
Barbara always had
a passion for experiencing the
outdoors with her husband Mel,
and their sons. As a couple, they
took many adventurous trips
together, like white water rafting
on the Colorado, mountain
climbing and hunting for fine
art in beautiful locales like Santa
Fe. As a family, they frequently
schlepped the boys on road
trips in their station wagon to
national parks to hike or to
beaches in New York, California
and Florida. Barbara was also
an avid runner, and encouraged
the family as well, competing in
road races everywhere, like the
Mighty Hamptons Triathlon,
Long Island Marathon, New
York Marathon and the Dallas
Turkey Trot. Without fail,
Barbara would place among the
top competitors in her “senior”
age group every time. All of these
activities instilled in her boys
a love for nature and running
and outdoor sports. In fact, son
Jed completed multiple Iron
Man Triathlons; son Jesse has
completed multiple marathons;
and son Josh loves to watch
marathons on TV.
Throughout all of these
adventures, and life’s good
times and bad, Barbara and Mel
stuck together by each other’s
side. Their love affair survived
successful store openings,
and store closures; sports
championships, and car wrecks;
the birth of six grandchildren,
and even the sudden death of
their son Jed at age 42. No matter
how difficult, Barbara stuck by
her husband every day, month
after month, year after year,
through all of it, and took care
of him, and all of her children
with mmeasurable love — she
was the family’s rock. Similarly,
as Barbara slowly lost herself
to Alzheimer’s over the past
six years, Mel stuck by his wife
every day, month after month,
year after year, keeping his vow
that he would take care of her in
their home until her last breath.
Ultimately, Barbara passed
peacefully in Mel’s arms in her
own home.
Through the Alzheimer’s
years, Mel kept Barbara vibrant
and engaged by taking her
everywhere around town, from
the Dallas Zoo, where they
shared a love of animals, to the
Dallas Museum of Art, where
they shared a love of fine art.
Barbara was also a regular at
The Well, Temple Emanu-El’s
Caregiver Day Out Program,
and Temple Shalom’s Caregivers’
Day Out Program, where she was
loved and cared for by volunteers
who ensured that Barbara and
every participant felt special and
enjoyed life even as Alzheimer’s
took over their lives.
In recent years, one of her
favorite activities was to “jam
out” and dance to Neil Diamond
with her grandchildren. One
of her favorite foods was the
soft carrots in her daughter-
in-law, Jordana’s, matzoh ball
soup. She would always go back
for seconds and sometimes she
would even ask permission to
pick them out of the pot on
the stove top. Even as Barbara’s
Alzheimer’s progressed, and
basic information became more
difficult for her to remember,
and basic tasks became more
difficult for her to do, her
coping mechanism was always
laughter. This was because deep
down inside, she was sameach
b’chelko, happy with her lot —
a character trait which Jewish
sages and scripture describe as
one of the most important in
life. People who knew Barbara
talk of her huge sunshine-smile
and beautiful blue eyes, and how
she never complained about her
difficult upbringing or about the
cards she was dealt throughout
her life. Instead, Barbara will be
remembered as loving, caring,
kind, thankful, vibrant, positive
and laughing all the time.
A graveside funeral service
was held at Shearith Israel
Memorial Park in Dallas,
Wednesday, May 13, 2020,
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Wisch-Ray, Sharon. Texas Jewish Post (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 21, 2020, newspaper, May 21, 2020; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1305743/m1/14/: accessed May 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .