“Shirley Wonderful!” That’s her name! She was known to many as “the Queen!” Her house was adorned with various pillows and mementos commemorating her royal lifestyle. She was a woman on the go. She was the epitome of someone who lived a full life.
Mindy ,her daughter would call her mom at 11:00 at night and she would just be returning from the theater or charity ball or party. She then would say that she had to get up at 6:00 AM because she was getting her hair done – which happened twice a week, NO MATTER WHAT. Her Mom was always perfectly accessorized and coiffed, and always looked like a model. She even did some senior modeling while spending the winters in FL with me many years ago.
Shirley had a lot of civic and cultural interests.
These are just some of the organizations and activities in which she actively participated:
Il Circilo The Italian Cultural Society. And she wasn’t even Italian. She just loved to participate in any organization of importance and significance.
Cultural council for Palm Beach Peach county for arts sciences and History
Society of the four arts
National Association for Mental Illness
She had season tickets for Palm Beach opera and became friends with Virginia Zeami, a famous opera singer, as soon as they met.
She was an avid supporter of, an attended many meetings, of the Palm Beach fellowship of Christians and Jews.
She had season tickets for the ballet
She was a member of the Forum Club of Palm Beach. The list goes on...
She loved to travel and was fortunate enough to travel most of the world. The only place on her bucket list that she missed was a safari. She even travelled by herself from FL to Rochester Minn at age 91 to be there for her daughter who went there for surgery. And that was with a change of planes. She also attended her great grandson’s bar mitzvah three years ago, age 93 where she again flew alone from FL with a change of planes to WV. She was so determined…….
She had a great love of animals and was a contributor to animal organizations. Many of you have seen her with pictures of Scruffy and Precious and other dogs who I've had along the way.
She volunteered with the city of Palm Beach Police Department for their hurricane task force. And this is a woman who at age 90 schlepped up and down six flights of stairs in order to help people prepare for the hurricane. And, by the way, Shirley - who was not able to ride a bike - was found on the back of a police motorcycle! And she also couldn't swim, but she would go deep sea fishing on a regular basis. She was fearless.
Her positivity and enthusiastic personality was contagious too many. She had a true zest for life. Everyone whose life she touched shares that same sentiment.
You can shed tears that she is gone
or you can smile because she has lived
You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all she’s left
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her and only that she’s gone
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
or you can do what she’d want:
smile,
open your eyes,
love
and go on.
In lieu of flowers donations in Shirley’s memory made be made to Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League or the Parkinson’s Foundation.
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