Obituary: Isabelle Marilyn Sirota Maslia

Isabelle Marilyn Sirota Maslia, beloved wife, mother, Bubbe, great-grandmother (also known as “Bubbe Bell”), aunt, friend, and devoted educator, passed away peacefully on June 17, 2026 (2Tamuz 5786), in Atlanta, Ga., surrounded by her loving family. She was 93 years old.

Born on Dec. 27, 1932, in The Bronx, N.Y., Isabelle was the youngest of three daughters of Rose and Isadore Sirota (z”l). At the age of 3, she moved with her family to Atlanta, Ga., where her father established “Joe’s Market,” a neighborhood grocery in which the family lived above and behind the store.

Raised in the Jim Crow South, Isabelle learned early lessons in compassion and integrity from her parents, who extended credit to Black customers when others would not and provided shelter and safety in their store during times of racial unrest when the Ku Klux Klan rode down Pryor Street.

As a child, Isabelle longed for a bicycle but was told she would need to wait due to the economic hardships of the Great Depression and wartime rationing. In its place, her father promised that she would be the first in the family to learn to drive a new automobile after the war — a promise she fulfilled. Though she never learned to ride a bicycle herself, she later taught each of her four children to do so, reflecting her dedication as a mother.

Isabelle graduated from Hoke Smith High School in 1950 with aspirations of becoming a social worker. Although she was academically qualified to attend Atlanta University (a historically Black college and university), which offered the strongest program in the field, segregation prevented her enrollment, and she instead attended Georgia State University. During this time, she was dating her future husband, Albert M. Maslia, a Sephardic Jew studying at the Georgia Institute of Technology. They were married on June 25, 1952, at the Progressive Club and shared nearly 74 years of marriage.

Isabelle devoted herself to supporting her husband during his service as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army, stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and Fort McClellan, Ala. During this period, their first child, Morris, was born in January 1954. After completion of his service, the family returned to Atlanta, where their second child, Sheryl, was born in May 1956.

In 1958, guided by a strong Zionist commitment instilled by her parents, Isabelle and Albert made Aliyah to Israel with their two young children. They settled in the neighborhood of Zahala, north of Tel Aviv, alongside her sister, Beatrice, and brother-in-law, Jerry Renov (z”l). Her sister, Claire, and brother-in-law, Manny Renov (z”l) later joined them in Israel. While living in Israel, her third child, Alisa, was born in November 1959.

Following the deaths of her father, Isadore Sirota (z”l), and her mother-in-law, Linda Maslia (z”l), the family returned to Atlanta, where Albert joined his father, Morris, in the family shoe repair and locksmith business in Little Five Points.

Upon her return to Atlanta, Isabelle began her lifelong career in education at the Hebrew Academy of Atlanta. Fluent in Hebrew following study at an ulpan in Israel and deeply committed to Jewish learning and traditions, she played a foundational role in developing the school’s early childhood Judaic studies program. At a time when full-time Jewish day school education was uncommon in Atlanta, she was a pioneer in the field and enrolled her own children in the school. In November 1964, she gave birth to her fourth child, Ilana.

Isabelle taught at the Hebrew Academy (later Greenfield Hebrew Academy and Atlanta Jewish Academy) for 35 years, retiring in 1997. Over the course of her career, she educated multiple generations of students, including both children and grandchildren of her former pupils. Her work left a lasting impact and legacy on Atlanta’s Jewish educational community and was a source of great pride to her family.

She is survived by her husband, Albert M. Maslia; her children, Morris Maslia (Amy), Sheryl Rechtman (Michael), Alisa Austin (Scott), and Ilana Danneman (Rabbi Mordechai); 12 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Grandchildren include Jami and Joel Rechtman; Adam (Melissa), Aaron (Brianna), and Zachary Maslia; Matthew (Mary) and Phillip Austin; Jana Austin Bowers (Kyle); and Lev, Carmelle, Rafael, and Nissim (Nechama Devora) Danneman. Great-grandchildren include Isabella and Stephen Austin, Aria and Emmie Maslia, Shoshana Maslia, and Logan Bowers.

The family extends its heartfelt gratitude and sincere thanks to Tobi Lyons for her compassionate care in Isabelle’s final months, and to the second-floor nursing staff of the William Breman Jewish Home for their devoted and dignified care.

A graveside funeral service was held at Greenwood Cemetery, 1173 Cascade Road, Atlanta, Ga. 30311, at 10:30 a.m., June 19, 2026, officiated by Rabbi Joshua Hearshen of Congregation Or VeShalom.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Isabelle’s memory to Congregation Or VeShalom (www.orveshalom.org) and the William Breman Jewish Home (https://www.jewishhomelife.org), both of which were meaningful to her and her family.

To sign the online guest book and view shiva information, visit www.jewishfuneralcare.com. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.