Florence Esther Shurin

Florence Esther Shurin, 94, died peacefully in her sleep at her home Saturday morning, October 10, 2009. Graveside services will be 10:30am Monday, October 12 at Mt. Carmel
Cemetery. Kindly omit flowers, the family suggests contributions to Police Care Team, Attn: Col. Rachel Whipple, Kansas City, MO Police Headquarters, 1125 Locust, Kansas City, MO 64106 or Jewish Vocational Services, 1608 Baltimore Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64108. The youngest of five children, she was born in North Adams, Massachusetts on July 17, 1915 and moved with her family to Kansas City, Kansas as a young girl. After graduating from high school, she attended the University of Missouri, Columbia. She met
Nate Shurin and they were happily married for nearly 60 years, until his death in 1999.
She and her husband owned and operated Snyder’s Market, a grocery store at 31st and Woodland for many years. After they sold the store in the late 1950’s, Florence worked with her sister, Edith Kornbleet, at the Jewish Community Center. Later, she became the Director of Volunteer’s at the Jewish Geriatric Center, where she put her skills as an innovator to use. Florence organized trips, brought in entertainers and educational speakers, and started an annual craft fair where residents sold their handmade and hand sewn items. In 1972, Florence and Nate started a flea market called Nate’s Swap Shop,
located at the 63rd Street Drive-In, which became the largest flea market in the metropolitan area. Over the years, she befriended police officers, sellers and buyers, many of whom could be found around Florence’s kitchen table throughout the week. At age 88, she decided to retire and sold the flea market, which continues to thrive. Throughout her life, Florence was renowned for her skills in the kitchen and her tireless enthusiasm for entertaining guests in her home well into her nineties. Her generosity and her company will be dearly missed by all. She leaves a daughter, Stephanie Cummings; a son and daughter, Leland and Jill Shurin; grandchildren, Howard
Barewin and Jennifer Neill, Mark and Leslie Schuenemeyer, Autumn Shurin and Chrys Balis, and Jared and Anne Shurin, and three great-grandchildren, Nathan, Joseph and Owen Barewin.