Shirley Anne Campbell

At 17 she left high school to move to California with her first husband. A few years later, she made her way to Florida, where she met her second husband while working in the bookkeeping and tax service he owned. In 1967, they left Florida with a toddler they would later adopt after several years of putting down roots in Houston, Texas.

Despite growing up in a time when it was unusual for women to work outside the home, she later completed her GED and attended Massey Business College. There she excelled in bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing – prized skills at the time. An impressive typing speed of “105 words per minute with 3 mistakes” made her an outstanding candidate for office work.

Always interested in general business, she eventually ended up in banking, where she rose to the rank of Assistant Vice President. Even after retiring from banking, she worked part-time in a grocery store and also became a certified barista for Starbucks.

Outside the workforce, she would probably agree that her greatest accomplishments were giving countless cats and dogs a home, raising a child, living independently in her own home until her final days, and never letting the rules of society stand in her way.

The family especially wishes to thank the Houston Police Department, the City of Houston Bureau of Animal Regulation and Control (BARC), Harris County Adult Protective Services, and the health care and social work staff at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital and Houston Hospice. In her final weeks on this earth, she could not have received better care from these angels walking among us.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Clifton Rue and Vella Marie (Elliott) Rue, and her brothers Clifton Jr. and Eldon.

In Houston, she is survived by her beloved German Shepherd, her adopted daughter, Debbie Campbell, her son-in-law, G. Wade Johnson, and her grandson, Valen Johnson.

Surviving family members in Ohio include her sister Virginia Carpenter, her niece Melissa Carpenter, and grand-niece Lora Thornton.

Before her passing, Shirley requested donations to the Houston Police Department’s K-9 Unit (www.houstonpolicefoundation.org/funding/canine) or an animal welfare organization, in lieu of flowers.

When COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, her family plans to honor her wishes to have her ashes interred near her parents’ graves in St. Paris, Ohio.