Upon setting her sights on his blonde hair and gazing into his deep intimate blue eyes, Shirley fell in love with him on the spot.

After their close friend Freddy got hitched, Shirley and Izi thought about it and realized that they better jump on the bandwagon and get married themselves.  

She told him:  "Let's get married NOW!"

Shirley's mother was not too thrilled about the idea of getting married so young and so soon, but young Shirley had her mind made up.
They married on the second of August 1951 and the following year, baby Jack was born into their lives. Five years later, in 1957, Shirley and Izi's second son Carl was born and in 1961, Shirley and Izi's first and only daughter Ilene was born.
In 1968, the family packed up their home and belongings and ventured west to sunny California.
Jack married Leslie and bore their son Scott, and Ilene married Moshe and they brought to the world Liat, Robert and Ariel.

Shirley's grandparents  immigrated from Kiev, Russia in 1903 with their families.  Ana, Shirley's mother, her 5 brothers and 1 sister were living all together in one house . Years after, Anna Met Max Rothenberg and not to long after Shirley was born. The Rothenberg family settled in a nice home at 410 Hendrix St. in Brooklyn, NY. Max was a printer by trade and Anna was a factory worker making artificial flowers.

Shirley was especially close to her cousin Charlotte and to her aunt Ethel who was Charlotte's mother.
When Shirley was 12 years old, she began earning extra money by babysitting for families in the neighborhood. Soon after at the age of 15, Shirley was hired to work at a movie theatre as an usher. She graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School.
After high school, at the age of 18, Shirley worked as a secretary and occasionally modeled rain coats for potential customers.  After getting stabled financially, her two friends Laura and Freddy, who were a couple at the time, set her up on a blind date with Izi.