Shelley Balonick Davis
August 24, 1936 - April 21, 2018
Shelley Balonick Davis, beloved wife, mother, grandma, friend, teacher, therapist, and genealogist, passed away peacefully during the early hours of Saturday, April 21. She is survived by her husband, Harvey Davis, her sons Marc and Gregg Davis, her daughter-in-law Beth Davis, her sister-in-law Roberta Balonick, and her grandchildren Maya and Zev Buffett-Davis, and Arielle and Cody Davis.
Shelley was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 24, 1936 to Samuel and Helene Balonick. In 1941, her brother Arnie was born, who preceded Shelley in death in 2016. After World War II, her family moved to California. Shelley graduated from North Hollywood High and attended USC receiving her B.S. in Education in 1958. That same year she met her husband-to-be, Harvey Davis, with whom she recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Throughout their marriage, Shelley and Harvey loved traveling the world together. Shelley, an avid Sinophile, learned to read, write, and speak Mandarin Chinese. Shelley was passionate about education and children and was a teacher at Erwin Street Elementary School. As a parent, she especially enjoyed reading to her children, taking them ocean fishing, and on many educational adventures.
Judaism was deeply important to Shelley from researching Jewish history and genealogy, to activism on behalf of Israel and combatting anti-Semitism. Shelley took the extraordinary step of becoming a Bat Mitzvah in her forties at Temple Judea. In her late fifties, she earned an M.S. in Counseling Psychology from Dominican University and practiced as a therapist with a focus on helping young children.
Throughout her life, Shelley was deeply involved in the lives of her family and friends, always celebrating life events with a nearly infinite stack of Hallmark cards and using Facebook like a social media obsessed teenager. She was an accomplished genealogist, diligently researching all sides of her family and making connections to long lost or hitherto unknown relatives across the globe.
For Shelley, family and friends were truly the center of her life, and we invite you to come celebrate her life and mourn her passing at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, at Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary, 6001 W Centinela Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90045. If you wish to make a donation in Shelley’s name, please do so to: Jewish Family Services (https:// www.jfcs.org/give/). May her memory be a blessing.