Shirley Novo

August 6, 1934 - August 26, 2018

Shirley Jean von Kleinsmid Novo was born August 6, 1934 in Altadena, CA to Hildreth (née Green) and Walter von Kleinsmid, grew up in Long Beach, CA and was graduated from Scripps College (Claremont, CA) in 1955. She worked as an editor in New York City at Prentice-Hall and in San Francisco, where she met Ricardo Novo (Dick) of Buenos Aires. They married in 1958 and raised their family in Buenos Aires (1962-1979), Athens (1979-1980) and Madrid (1980-1990) before settling in Haverford, PA. She is survived by her children Laura (Stephen Chawaga), Patricia, Sandra (Richard Weinland), and Robert Daniel (Tiffany Johnson), and by grandchildren Tim, Peter and Mary Chawaga; Lucas, Mia and Noah Weinland; and Aidan and Oliver Novo. Ingenious, friendly, curious and kind, Shirley embraced expatriate life. Wherever she found herself, she joined a book club and the local association of university women. She quickly became expert in her interests, which included editing publications of all kinds, quilting, Shakespeare (Hamlet above all), computers (always Apples), architecture and design, opera, travel, dragons, and genealogy. She embraced her children’s adult lives with enthusiasm, and her grandchildren reveled in her quick wit and up-to-date engagement with the world. She fought ovarian cancer, first diagnosed in 2009, with determination and dignity. Dick predeceased her in 2015. Her sister (Nancy Thomas of Santa Barbara, CA) and brother and sister-in-law (Richard von Kleinsmid and Carol Zabilski of Vashon, WA) survive her. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center or to Philabundance. A celebration of life will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday September 22 at Beaumont in Bryn Mawr.