About the Author

Sabina Shalom is the author of the book A Marriage Sabbatical.

Born and educated in England, psychologist, social worker, Sabina Shalom, was a volunteer with a British Relief Organization to work with concentration camp survivors in Europe after WWII. Later she directed an operation which brought orphaned children to England and place them in foster homes.

As a former broadcast-journalist with the BBC London, after marriage and life in America, she presented her own radio shows with WQRS-FM in Detroit, Michigan. Sabina relocated to Colombia, South America. Here, together with medical professionals she set up a free clinic for unwed mothers and under the auspices of the American Women’s Association, organized an escort service for the Blind and “Meals on Wheels” for the sick and needy. Sabina was a contributing editor to Bogota’s English language newspaper El Periodico, and ran a column called “Dear Sabby” A regular broadcaster with “Voice of America” she co-founded an English speaking theatre company, and, with fluency in French and Spanish, served as Cultural Attaché to the Canadian Embassy.

After 30 years of marriage, she asked her husband for a leave of absence with pay, put a pack on her back, and traveled 50,000 miles alone around the world on $1500 to return to refresh a staling marriage. “A Marriage Sabbatical” is a timeless story originally published in hardcover but eagerly re-published and now available in Amazon’s five star rated paperback.

On her return to the US, Sabina read for the blind and became a hospice volunteer. After a thirteen year tenure with the American Lung Association her efforts culminated in the enactment of a law – now nation-wide and long since taken for granted – prohibiting smoking in all public places and the workplace.  In recognition of “This Outstanding Contribution to National Health Organizations and Non-smoker’s Right to breathe Clean Air”, Sabina was made an Honorary Life Member of the American Lung Association.

The National Association of Social Workers Foundation honored Sabina with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” in recognition of her fifty years of voluntary social work in Europe, USA, and Colombia, South America. Sabina was later additionally honored by being named an NASW Social Work Pioneer.  

Sabina Celia Shalom (1925 – 2021) was born in Sheffield, England and spent her last few years living in Portland, Oregon. She was 96 and will be laid to rest next to her husband and our father/grandfather Marco Shalom in Maryland. She is survived by her sons Tony and Michael and her grandchildren Gabriel, Jocelin, Veronica and Victoria.