Lakeside resident Shirley Laura Steiner, 90, passed away peacefully February 10 in La Floresta, Ajijic.
Born January 26, 1923 in New Haven, Connecticut, Steiner began violin studies at the age of four. By the age of 16 she was the concert mistress of the New Haven Symphony. She met composer and musicologist Fred Steiner when they were students at the Oberlin Conservatory and married him in 1943.
Fred was Shirley’s accompanist (as a composition major – he played the piano). Love of music continued to be a major theme throughout her life. The couple hosted chamber music evenings at their home and in their later years traveled to see classical music and opera performances all over Europe and the United States.
In the late 1940s, as the television industry was just getting started in Hollywood, the Steiners headed west to Los Angeles where they remained until 1958, when Fred was asked to go to Mexico City to head up a newly forming library of recorded music for Mexican television. Shirley adored Mexico and the family had wonderful adventures exploring as much as they could of the country while they were there. Besides reading everything she could about Mexican culture, Shirley amassed a fine collection of Mexican folk art.
Upon the family’s return to Los Angeles in 1961, she continued her studies in Spanish language and literature, completing her bachelor’s degree at UCLA summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. Shirley went on to get her master’s degree in Folklore and Mythology, another topic she had fallen in love with by being exposed to the folk art and cultural traditions of Mexico.
Shirley was an excellent cook and a creative decorator who loved textiles, clothing and fashion. She was known for her skills as a gracious hostess and nothing pleased her more than to have her friends and family enjoy the beautiful, art-and-music-filled surroundings she created. Over the years, she enthusiastically remodeled several houses she and her husband lived in. Her daughter Jillian Sandrock notes, “My mom never met a wall she didn’t want to knock out!”
In 1990 Fred retired from composing to concentrate on his academic pursuits and the couple moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Shirley became active in the Santa Fe court system’s Citizen’s Review Board, helping abused and neglected children and their families navigate the court system.
Their health failing, they moved with their family to Ajijic in 2010.
Shirley is survived by two daughters, Jillian Steiner Sandrock, who lives with her husband Arnold Sandrock in Ajijic and Wendy Waldman, a well-known singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. She had two grandchildren, Abraham William Steiner Parker and Saida Staudenmaier, and great-grandchildren Hannah and Otto Staudenmaier. Her husband of 58 years, Fred Steiner, preceded her in death in June 2011.
At her request, no funeral or memorial services will be held.