Nixon Enemies List entry for
Ellwood P. and Shirley Kauffman:
| List and position: | Second, #295 |
| Name as originally listed: | M/M Elwood P. Kaufman |
| Wife's vitals: | - 7/7/2008 |
| 1972 location: | Princeton, NJ |
| Wife's name: | Shirley Kauffman |
Comments
Shirley Kauffman of Princeton, an actress and political activist, died Monday at her home after a two-year battle with cancer. She was 82.
She was a 30-year member and past president of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization. She also served on a number of municipal boards in the Borough until her failing health prevented her from continuing. In October 2006, the PCDO held a “Shirley Kauffman Appreciation Day†in her honor. She had a lifelong interest in politics, dating to the Adlai Stevenson presidential campaign and reaching an unusual peak when both she and her husband, active supporters of George McGovern, were named to President Nixon’s “Enemies List.†She worked on many local, state, and national elections and served on the platform committee during the 1988 Democratic National Convention.
After graduation from Temple University in Philadelphia, where she met her husband, Mrs. Kauffman studied acting in New York City with the renowned drama coach Stella Adler, who was so impressed with her talent that she [suggested that Shirley] get a divorce so that marriage and a family would not impede an acting career. Instead, she went on to raise four children and excelled in community theater, performing with a number of companies, including the Princeton Community Players and Summer Intime at Princeton University. Her favorite role was Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, and a press clipping of one of her performances recounts how, at the curtain call, her fellow actors turned and directed their applause to her.
In addition to her civic activities, she spent decades as a volunteer narrator with Recording for the Blind, which provides books-on-tape for visually impaired students. She and her husband also traveled extensively and made friends around the world. She was also an avid bridge player, and in recent years greatly enjoyed evenings spent playing Rummikub with her family.
She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Ellwood “Woody†Kauffman of Princeton; her sons, Scott Kauffman of Palo Alto, Calif.; Geoffrey Kauffman of New York City; Matthew Kauffman of West Hartford, Conn.; a daughter Jane Kauffman Barthman of Lake Peekskill, N.Y.; five grandchildren, and many other loving relatives, including three special nieces, Susan Hoffmann of Rockville, Md., Karen Berry of Portland, Ore., and Lynn Lobbert of Santa Rosa, Calif. Her son-in-law, James Barthman, died in 2006.
Your comment: (comments may be edited for relevance and civility, but not likely)