MORTON, Beryl

Beryl Schubert Morton, 73, passed away December 2, 2002 after a long, courageous battle with cancer. She will be deeply missed by her loving family and by her many friends and associates. She was the coordinator of the Jewish Heritage Center project of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, an effort that reclaims for the Jewish community the first synagogue building in Phoenix. This undertaking is the completion of a dream she held for many years. Until March of 2002, she was the executive director of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society. She joined the Jewish Historical Society in 1989 as curator and archivist and during her tenure there, she brought much recognition to the importance of preserving ethnic history, particularly in the Southwest. She established a Web site for the organization and was instrumental in developing Shema Arizona, a separate Web site produced in collaboration with Arizona State University Libraries. This Web site contains transcriptions of some 65 oral histories, photos, sound excerpts, graphics and music to enhance learning about the formation of the Arizona Jewish community. In her younger life, she worked as a social worker, helping to place infants into adoptive homes and counseling single mothers. After moving here from Chicago in 1957, she worked for the Arizona Welfare Department, the Florence Crittenton Home and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1967, she retired from social work and began a life of volunteer and professional community service. In the 1970s she was president of the Royal Palm PTA coordinator of the Panel of American Women, an ethnically diverse group that sought to advance understanding and respect for all people editor of "The Next Frontier," a publication of the North Phoenix Corporate Ministry, a mutually supported interfaith association composed of two synagogues, a Catholic church and five Protestant churches and their clergy. In the 1980s, she was special exhibition curator, docent trainer and newsletter editor for the Sylvia Plotkin Judaica Museum. Born August 15, 1929 in Chicago to Anne Maltz Schubert and the late Robert I. Schubert, she graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a degree in psychology. She also pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago. She is survived by her husband, Ira, to whom she was married for 50 years daughter, Debra (Steve) Gelbart of Phoenix son, Joel of Aspen, Colo. adored grandsons Jonathan and Benjamin Gelbart mother, Anne Schubert of Phoenix and brothers Gordon (Jerri) Schubert of Scottsdale and Dr. S. Roy (Lynn) Schubert of Hermosa Beach, Calif. Funeral services Thursday, Dec. 5, 2002, at Sinai Mortuary, 4538 N. 16th Street in Phoenix. Contributions may be made to the Jewish Heritage Center, care of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, 4710 N. 16th Street, Suite 201 Phoenix 85016, or Hospice of the Valley, 1510 E. Flower Street, Phoenix 85014. The Arizona Republic December 4, 2002