Her daughter, Peggy, and granddaughter, Felicia, were with her when she took her last breath. Shirley was loved. There is sadness and grief. Loss. We are happy that our mother’s strong, stubborn, and fiercely independent spirit is finally free.
Shirley was born on March 6, 1936 in San Diego, CA to Lewis & Lillian Bryant. She was the oldest of three daughters, including Lauretta Joyce Sinclair and Janice Kammler. Both of her sisters and her parents preceded her in death many years ago.
Shirley was married and divorced twice. She had two children from her first marriage, and one daughter from her second marriage. She was a hard-working, independent, single mother in the 1970’s, raising three children on her own.
For most of her career, she worked for the federal government, with the Dept. of the Navy, as a Financial Accounts Manager, at bases in Oceanside, CA; Oak Harbor, WA; Port Townsend, WA; and Silverdale/Keyport, WA. When her youngest daughter left home, she took an assignment with the Navy to remote Adak, Alaska, and truly enjoyed her adventure there. She survived breast cancer, and went on another adventure as a campground host for a summer with the National Park Service.
Shirley retired from the Civil Service by 1995, when she moved from Poulsbo, WA to Atlanta, GA, where she lived for 20 years, to be near her younger daughter and grandchildren, traveling back and forth often to visit her children and grandchildren in Kitsap County, WA.
Shirley was an avid reader all her life, passing her love of reading and books to her children and grandchildren. She enjoyed a quiet, private life, after working for so many years. She was a devoted mother and grandmother.
In 2009, in Atlanta, Shirley suffered a massive heart attack—during which, she drove herself to the hospital, without calling for help. She was that independent (and stubborn!). Her heart attack, followed by several strokes, led to a difficult year of rehab and recovery, followed by declining health and progressive dementia.
She moved home to Kitsap County, WA in 2015. She lived in The Willows independent living community in Bremerton for three years, until another stroke resulted in her final move to Martha & Mary in 2019, a wonderful facility back home in Poulsbo, WA, where she had lived for 15 years.
Shirley is remembered by her friends and communities, both in Georgia and Washington State.
Shirley is survived by her three children: Michael C. McCarthy of Bainbridge Island, WA; Peggy E. McCarthy of Poulsbo, WA; and Sherri Petersen Caldwell (Russ), most recently of Atlanta, GA. She is remembered fondly by her five grandchildren: Michael Hayes, Felicia Ritchie, Zach Caldwell, Haleigh Caldwell, and Tiger Scott Caldwell. She has three great-grandchildren, with a new great-grandbaby due in February.
Shirley planned and arranged long ago to return home to Oceanside, CA after her death, to be laid to rest near her parents, Lillian R. and Lewis A. Bryant, and her youngest sister, Janice Bryant Kammler, at Eternal Hills Cemetery in Oceanside.
Covid has slowed things down, in life and death. With restrictions and delays in CA, her private burial will take place in the first week of February. We are comforted in knowing that her spirit is already free and home, where she wanted to be. Her family will celebrate her life and visit her gravesite in Oceanside later this year.
Please join us in fond memories and thoughts of our mother, on her final journey.
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