56 | JANUARY 19 • 2023 

OBITUARIES
OF BLESSED MEMORY

O

ur friend Shelley 
Golden was so full of 
wit, grit, dazzle and 
spunk, I can’t come close to 
describing the supernova she 
was. But I owe it to her to try.
With apologies to A.E. 
Housman, I para-
phrase a verse 
from his classic 
poem “To an 
Athlete Dying 
Young.
” For 
Shelley, we’ll call 
it: “To an Aesthete 
Dying Young.
”
Smart lass, to slip 
betimes away/ From fields where 
glory does not stay./ And early 
though the laurel grows/ It withers 
quicker than the rose.
Shelley slipped away from life 
and glory much too 
soon. She adored 
art and beauty and 
was mad for roses. 
Especially Golden 
ones. On excursions 
to antiques fairs and 
shops, I witnessed 
Shelley’s delight in 
discovering hand towels, china 
and anything else adorned with 
yellow roses. When we returned 
to her charming home overlook-
ing the harbor in Charlevoix, she 
insisted I consult on the place-
ment of her latest yellow rose 
acquisition. She loved flowers 
outside as well. In front of her 
home, she planted a charming 
heart-shaped garden.
Shelley and I were strolling 
down Dixon (her street) some 
15 years ago when she said 
something that made my heart 
plummet. Her gynecologist had 
spotted a cyst on her ovaries. 

They’
d “watch” it.
My friend Ginger Curtis, 
diagnosed with MS at 35, had 
created a healing labyrinth in 
her Petoskey backyard. Shelley 
and I walked Ginger’s labyrinth, 
praying for Shelley’s recovery. 
Sadly, it wasn’t to be. After years 
of debilitating chemo treatments 
and countless visits to medi-
cal centers for ovarian cancer, 
Shelley died Dec. 16, 2022. She 
was 75. She leaves behind her 
dynamic husband, Richard, with 
whom she conceived and built 
SEE, a successful eyewear com-
pany; son Seth, who followed in 
his father’s footsteps taking over 
SEE; daughter Jessica, a profes-
sional comedian/TV writer in 
Los Angeles; and four grandchil-
dren, one of whom — a girl — is 
on the Little Caesars competitive 
AAA travel hockey team.
Shelley and Richard’s off-
spring spoke at her funeral 
in Michigan on Dec. 18. Seth 
recalled, “Fifteen years ago to 

this month my mom was diag-
nosed. It was a long shot she’
d 
be at Hillary’s and my wedding. 
But not only was she there, she 
danced all night. Mom never let 
her difficult challenge stop her 
from showing up 100%.
”
Daughter Jessica said, “My 
beautiful momma was my abso-
lute hero, the funniest person I 
ever knew, and I work with a lot 
of comedians. She never flinched 
about being my star subject.
”
Case in point: Jessica’s routine 
about Jewish mothers ordering 
dinner. “My momma called her-
self a Rock ’n Roll Grandma. She 
was 100% authentic and 1000% 
lovable.
”
Deeming Shelley “all sunlight 
and optimism,
” Rabbi Harold 
Loss said Shelley was once asked 
how many languages she spoke. 
“Only English,
” she said, “but a 
lot of it.
” 
Shelley and Richard met at a 
party, Rabbi Loss said. Richard 
was 16; Shelley, 15. In a contest 

for the then-popular dance the 
Twist, Richard won for the boys; 
Shelley, for the girls. Rabbi Loss 
said Richard wrote on Shelley’s 
high school senior yearbook 
photo, “To the woman most like-
ly to become the mother of my 
children.
”
With a master’s degree in 
social work from Oakland 
University, Shelley was known 
and loved for her big heart. 
Rabbi Loss said Shelley walked 
by a homeless man, asked his 
name and returned bringing him 
something to eat. At one point, 
the man asked her, “What’s 
tonight’s cuisine?”
Richard and his brother 
Randal bought Detroit-based 
DOC optical company from 
their father, local celeb Donald 
L. Golden, and took it to another 
level. Around 1998, Richard and 
Shelley created a hipper brand 
of eyewear and launched SEE. 
Shelley came up with the name. 
Featuring “hip without the rip” 
high-fashion eyewear, SEE has 
won “Best Optical” 81 times 
in newspapers and magazines 
around the nation. At annual 
company-wide meetings, Shelley 
could be counted on for words of 
motivation and humor.
After Shelley’s funeral, I got 
together on Zoom with some of 
her BFFs. Peggy Daitch spoke of 
Shelley’s “megawatt smile” saying 
Shelley “wasn’t just warm; she 
was hot. She always leaned in.
” 
Brenda Rosenberg recalled 
how Shelley “literally” saved her 
life. The morning of Yom Kippur 
eve, in 2019, Brenda and Shelley 
were together for coffee. Brenda 
dropped her cellphone. She bent 
down but was unable to pick it 
up. “Shelley said, ‘Don’t move, 
Brenda. You’re having a stroke.
’ 
She said it as calmly as if I were 
ordering a bagel for breakfast.
” 
Shelley called 911 and Brenda’s 
husband, Howard. Brenda was 
rushed to the hospital and is fully 
recovered. 

Shelley Golden was a Rock 
Star to the Multitudes Who 
Knew and Loved Her

Suzy 
Farbman
Special to the 
Jewish News

Shelley 
Golden

Shelley and Richard Golden stand at right with their family at 
Gabriella’s bat mitzvah. 

