Boynton Beach, Fla. – Sally Marx Hyman died peacefully on May 19 at Brookdale Senior Living. She was 91.
The daughter of Edward Marx and Augusta Ehrlich Marx, Sally was born and grew up in Norfolk. As a student at Maury High School, she was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, Maury News, and president of the Quill and Scroll interscholastic honor society of high school journalists. For a school sorority dance, Sally was set up on a blind date with Ronald Hyman, who would become her loving husband of 42 years. Sally and Ronald were charter members of Temple Israel.
After having four children within five years by the time she was 27, Sally felt the need to be among adults while contributing to her community and began what was to become a life of service and leadership in organizations. She joined the Temple Israel Sisterhood, where she held her first elected office and then served on the temple’s board of education. Sally also served as financial secretary of the Auxiliary of Beth Sholom Home and as secretary of the Hebrew Ladies Charity Society. She and Ronald moved the family to Virginia Beach in 1963, where she joined the board of the PTA of her children’s school and served as the leader of her daughters’ Brownie troops and her son’s Cub Scout den.
When her mother-in-law, Minnie Hyman, became copresident of a chapter of B’nai B’rith Women, Sally joined and became active in that chapter, soon serving as president—as well as president of two other chapters and of the Tidewater Council of B’nai B’rith Women. In 1984, she received the B’nai B’rith Women’s Mollie Robbins Community Service Award in recognition of her contributions. Outside of the Jewish community, Sally volunteered with the Tidewater Rehabilitation Center, Children’s Hospital of The Kings Daughters, Tidewater Psychiatric Institute, and public television station WHRO. She credited her volunteerism to the example set by her mother, who was actively involved in her community.
The accomplishment Sally was most proud of was cofounding and promoting the Block Mothers program in the mid-1960s, when child molestation was an issue in Tidewater. Women who volunteered to be Block Mothers put a sign in their window, signaling to children that the house was a safe place to go to if they needed help. In a little more than two years, there were 8,000 women in the Tidewater Council of Block Mothers.
After her youngest child finished school, Sally got her first “real job,” as an administrative assistant in real estate finance at what was then Virginia National Bank. She stayed with the bank through several mergers, retiring after a 20-year career there.
Shortly after her husband’s death in 1994, Sally joined the Norfolk/Virginia Beach chapter of the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee, through which she tutored schoolchildren in reading. Following the untimely death of her daughter, Kathy, in 1997, Sally moved to Delray Beach, Fla. Desiring to help others who had lost loved ones, she became a certified peer grief counselor and facilitated a weekly bereavement support group for many years. She joined the Delray chapter of Brandeis, where she, of course, served as president twice and was an active member of its Florida Region board.
Over her lifetime, Sally developed a strong interest in women’s studies, American and Jewish social and cultural history, and the Southern Jewish experience. She spent many enjoyable years developing and delivering lectures on these topics to various women’s groups. She credited her time on her high school paper and the public speaking class she took at Maury for her comfort in taking on leadership roles and speaking in front of audiences.
In her downtime, Sally enjoyed reading, traveling, and discussing politics. She was a strong believer in the importance of education and a supporter of Jewish causes and was admired as a mentor by many other women.
Sally is survived by her children, Sheryl Sieracki (Fred), of Annapolis, Md.; Lori Glasser (Michael), of Virginia Beach; and Richard Hyman (Patty Cartwright), of Roslindale, Mass.; grandchildren Erin Stockburger (Greg), Katie Sieracki, Bern Glasser, Jamie Dingenthal (Dustin), Helen Sieracki (Scott Reichert), Jacob Glasser (Jessica), Ross Glasser, Sophie Cahill (Calan), and Joshua Hyman; great-granddaughter Kendall Dingenthal; and son-in-law, Murray Rosenbach. She was preceded in death by her parents, Edward and Augusta Ehrlich Marx; her sisters, Ruth Cass and Dorothy Bennett; her husband, Ronald Hyman; and her daughter Kathy Rosenbach.
A private memorial service will be held on a later date.