Heartfelt condolences to the Stein family for their loss.  Shirley's passing is Gallaudet's loss as well.  I first met Shirley when I started in New Faculty Orientation in 1980 and she brightened my life.

I am so sorry for your loss.  May the Most High God comfort you as you mourn the loss of your loved one.  (Psalm 83:18)

Shirley, I'm glad I took your course - Ira described the experience perfectly.  And like MAP, I'm also glad I served with you on the GUAA Graduate Fellowship Fund.  We missed you this year - the last remaining original member - but we will carry on your legacy.  Rest in peace, ma'am.

Thank you for being such a strong encourager to your former Gallaudet students - I was one of them.  Rest in peace.

Rest well dear professor for you have sown so much that your students carry on your legacy for years to come--the love and care ifor your students that were forged with high expectations and standards which set the bar for us to continue our work. Eventually names will disappear from our collective consciousness but the act of love and care for others shall remain forevermore.i

Sorry to know about Shirley Stein passed away. She was wonderful teacher at Gallaudet University and I was in her Public Speaking class. Please accept my sympathy. Laurent "Larry" Baker of Class of 1978.

You were a light in the dark at Gallaudet. You were one of the rare at GU that looked at us the Students as a peer Human Being.

I didn't take any classes under Mrs. Stein during my undergraduate years at Gallaudet.  That was probably unfortunate, but I was lucky enough to develop and maintain a wonderful rapport with her years later when I worked in "Ole Jim."  Shirley served for many years on the GUAA Graduate Fellowship Fund Committee, which met once a year.  These meetings required a lot of careful preparation but I always looked forward to them because I knew I was in for hours of Shirley's brand of wit, frank bluntness, thoughtful debates, and humorous banter with other members on the committee.  She was a truly elegant lady and such a joy to know.
---MAP

How could I forget you?  On the exterior, you were gruff but it did not faze me at all because I know you possessed a good heart in the right place.  You were one of the best professors.  I thrived from your challenging demands and high expectations.  I loved your retort to the visitor from England who had low expectations of us deaf students in our Public Speaking class (chuckles).  Rest in Peace, Mrs. Stein

Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.

Mary Frye, American poet (1904 - 2004)

May you be comforted as one of Gallaudet's great legacies is laid to rest.  I see many classmates and alumni carrying your torch high.

OBITUARY

Mrs. Shirley Plapinger Plapinger Stein

September 6, 1917 – July 8, 2014

Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home

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