Editor’s note: Service information has changed since original publication of obituary.
On April 19, 2025, Irma Greene, of Lenox, passed away at the age of 94. Irma (AKA “Snoopy Grandma,” thanks to a unique Snoopy toy that delighted her grandchildren) was born in the Bronx in 1931 to Jewish parents at the nadir of the Great Depression. She used to joke that her parents were so poor they couldn’t afford to give her a middle name.
Back when there were few career opportunities for women, Irma graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Oswego Teachers College at the age of 20. Four years later, she earned a master’s degree in education from New York University and went on to teach fourth grade for many years, primarily in the Greenburgh Central School District. Later, she became an associate professor at Manhattanville University in Purchase, N.Y., a rewarding highlight of her career where she brought her deep expertise and passion for teaching to the next generation of elementary school teachers. Still later, she became the assistant director of the Union Child Day Care Center in Greenburgh, N.Y.
Irma was an avid reader all her life. She was also a lover of theater, classical music, opera, and crosswords, which she was astoundingly good at.
In the mid-1960s, Irma and her then-husband Ronald built a modest summer home in the Berkshires, and for many years they spent summers and weekends here, availing themselves of its many cultural offerings, especially Tanglewood. With the help of her son Paul, she designed and built three more houses in the Berkshires, and for a time she ran a small antique shop in West Stockbridge. Multiple generations of people directly and indirectly connected to Irma now call the Berkshires home because of her.
In 2004, Irma married her second husband, Sid Shulman, and they enjoyed trips to many countries in Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East, including China. Together, Irma and Sid saw nearly every opera ever composed. He predeceased her in 2014.
In the last seven years of her life, Irma returned to her beloved Berkshires and remained active in her senior living community at Devonshire Estates. She delighted in her friends and family and took pleasure in relating stories from her long and richly lived life.
Irma is survived by her two sons, Jon Greene (Kathleen Larkin) and Paul Greene (Melissa Henney); seven grandchildren, Anna, Will, Matt, Nick, Zach, Zoe, Danny; and 10 great-grandchildren, Lucca, Adrianna, Juniper, Isaac, Spruce, Oscar, Hunter, Hyacinth, Baby M, and Autumn. RIP Snoopy. The family all loves and misses you.
A service will be held at the Finnerty & Stevens Funeral Home, located at 426 Main Street in Great Barrington, on Sunday, April 27 at 3 p.m.
