Sandra Garfinkel and Morton Henry Shapiro papers

Sandra Garfinkel Shapiro (1935- ) was born to Annie and Sam Garfinkel in Charleston, South Carolina. Both of her parents were born in Divin, Belarus, and both had the last name of Garfinkel before they married. Throughout her youth and adolescence, Sandra was active in Young Judaea, a Zionist youth organization. In 1952, she received a scholarship through Young Judaea to spend six weeks in Israel, traveling with a group organized by the World Zionist Organization. After high school, Sandra attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. While in college, she met Morton Henry Shapiro and the couple married in 1955. Following her wedding, Sandra transferred to the University of South Carolina, where she completed her bachelor's degree in history in 1957. Morton and Sandra then moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, and had two children, Rachel and Eric. In 1966, the family relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, where Sandra earned a degree in interior design from Georgia State. The Shapiros settled in Portland, Oregon, in 1977 and Sandra began working at Ethan Allen, a furniture and home décor company, where she remained until her retirement in 2000. In the 1980s, she became interested in genealogy and began researching her family, authoring several articles on her research in the newsletters of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon and the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, and eventually becoming president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon.

Sandra's husband, Morton Henry Shapiro (1928-2007), was born to Rega Kaizen and Jacob Shapiro in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Temple University in 1950 with a bachelor's degree in psychology, he began working for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). He was drafted into the United States Army in 1951 and served until 1953, returning to the ILGWU upon completing his service. After almost two decades, he left the ILGWU and pursued a number of jobs with labor unions across the United States. He worked as a labor consultant, the Director of the Oregon State Employees' Association, and with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), before retiring in 1996. In addition to his career working with labor unions, he was also involved with the civil rights movement in the South.