Charlotte Ann Saks

Charlotte Ann Shapiro Saks, 99, passed peacefully October 10, 2021 at her apartment in Weinberg Village in Tampa. She was born to Isadore and Sarah Shapiro on June 27, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois. She was the oldest of two.

Charlotte Saks was proud to be a 13-year veteran of the U.S. Postal Service. In retirement, she loved her many years as an usher at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

Charlotte cherished her roles as dear friend, wife, sister, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was also quick to talk about her roles as aunt, great aunt, cousin, etc., and once hosted a cousin who cleared the family room of furniture to roll out a 200-square-foot family tree dating back to the 7th century CE. She held Chicago close to her heart her whole life, but moved to Tampa in 1984 to become a role model, lullaby impresario, top Jewish chef, and source of unconditional support to her two grandsons, Eric and Josh.

To her children and nieces, she was a strong, disciplined, scrupulous, and deeply moral woman. She handled the hedges and the housework, but when her kids were teenagers, she also went to work to help support the family– arriving at 10:30 PM most nights for her 8 hour mail sorting shift. She studied during the day and on weekends, eventually moving to the accounting department and earning a pension that helped support her and her husband for many years. Charlotte had a life-threatening lymphoma removed from her stomach in 2002. In the last two decades of her life, she became a gentle matriarch, known for her koans: “Haste makes waste”; “Do the best you can as long as you can.” She was in no hurry to leave us. She did the best she could for as long as she could.

Charlotte was preceded in death by her sister Mona Schwab, who passed from COVID-19 at age 94, and her husband of 73 years, Seymour Saks, whom she met on the beach near Union Pier when she was 17. Their love affair spanned three quarters of a century; she kept the home he designed in Skokie, IL. He kept her laughing (and sometimes groaning) with an inexhaustible supply of jokes. He said the secret to staying married so long was that he always got the last words: “Yes, dear.” She said the secret to staying married was holding hands and forgiveness.

Charlotte is survived by her children Bonnie (Bradley Minnen) and Randy (Jennifer Sprowl), grandchildren Eric and Josh (Diana) Maltzer, David (Judy), and Jessica Minnen, and great-grandchildren Leila, Rili, Elliott, and Fiona.

A small private graveside service will be held at Shalom Memorial in Arlington Heights, Illinois this Thursday, October 14th, at 11:00 AM.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to the Weinberg Village, www.weinbergvillage.org/donate, so the employees of that community can experience a little more joy from the woman who, while she was with us, was an inexhaustible source of positivity and kindness.

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Service Information

Service : Thursday, October 14th at 11:00 am
Service Location: Graveside Service -Shalom Memorial Park

Interment:
Shalom Memorial Park
1700 W. Rand RoadArlington Heights