Shirley Cross Tobin Greenfield

Brooklyn, NY, the daughter of Mildred and Nathan Tobin. She graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and attended Hunter

College.

She married Edward Cross in 1938 and they had 3 children; Phyllis who died as a toddler, Jonathan and Mark. Edward

was killed in World War II leaving Shirley a war widow with two young

sons. In 1946 she married Leonard Greenfield, who adopted Jonathan and Mark, and together they had two more children, Julie and Barden. They were married for 69 years before Leonard’s death in February, 2016.

Shirley’s father was a tailor/ furrier and she followed him as a skilled

creator of clothing and interior furnishings. Her home was embellished with hand crafted curtains, slipcovers, quilted

bedspreads, needlepoint designs, hooked rugs, knitted blankets and sweaters, and all clothing imaginable.

Shirley and Leonard moved to East Tennessee in the early 1960’s and settled in Dickson several years later. Desiring to become part of their new community, Shirley and Leonard began

volunteering for the Dickson County Heart Association and the Association for Retarded Citizens. Simultaneously, she also was an active member of the Tennessee Federation of Women’s Clubs.

Her life’s work in community service had begun.

While living in Mississippi in the 1970’s, Shirley turned her attention

to Senior Citizen’s causes by raising funds for the first Senior Citizen’s bus in Bolivar County. She was later employed to administer funds for the Older Americans Act Title XX for Bolivar and

Sunflower Counties.

After returning to Nashville in 1981, Shirley became the Senior Adult

Director for the Jewish Community Center until 1985 and was awarded the JCC’s Kovod Award in 1987. In 1995, Shirley was honored with the National Conference (formerly NCCJ) Brotherhood

Sisterhood Award in the Senior Citizen’s Category.

All of this work was simply a prelude to Shirley’s next 26.5 years and 7600 hours of continued volunteer service at St. Thomas (West) Hospital, particularly at the Dan Rudy Cancer Center. She was one of the first volunteers to become a Stephen Minister and still its only Jew, exemplifying her strong ecumenical spirit among Christians and Jews. St. Thomas Hospital nominated her for Nashville’s Mary Catherine Strobel Award in 2003. Shirley was the Editor of the

St. Thomas Hospital Volunteer newsletter from 1992-2006.

Shirley drew from her Jewish heritage and great faith and often explained her abiding belief that it is each person’s duty to care for one another. “In truth, we are all strangers here, and we all need to know that someone cares”, she said.

Shirley and Leonard were devoted students at the Temple’s weekly

Torah Study class.

Shirley was a member of The Temple, Hadassah, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

She is survived by children Dr. Jonathan Greenfield (Heather), Dr.

Mark Greenfield (Sandra), Julie Greenfield Neaderthal (Dr. Robert), Dr. Barden Greenfield (Allison), 6 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild.

She most recently resided at Mary Queen of Angels Assisted Living Center.