Grief is a difficult.  All I know is I miss you everyday.  All our memories are wonderful reminders of how special you were.  I am reminded of what an amazing mother you were and your unstoppable resilience and perseverance to be, and God knows, you to be the best mother ever.  I can't stop praising you and your wonderful wit and humor.  I love you endlessly Mom and wish you were here.

I still think about her all the time.  I'm really glad I talked to her on the phone a lot before she died.  There was nobody else like her.  Rest In Peace, Nana.

Wow, so hard to believe it has been 3 yrs since you left us. So so many memories  with you and the way to remember you the best is with your laughter and your love of your kids especially the girls.. Not a day goes by that I dont think of you and smile from your goofiness. You and I are could get to laughing and by the way, I have your humor.. Debi n Traci say that one day it will get me into some trouble, safe is far.. I love you mom, forever

Remembering Shirley today and missing Her Fun Loving spirit of Always looking to interject a good joke and/or witty comment. She is Missed !!
My Love, Hugs and Prayers to Her Very Loving Daughters Debi, Traci and Tami ❤

Its been a year today, but it feels like yesterday.  Tami reminded us of the wonderful gift you blessed us with. you fave us "US" and what a wonderful gift  it is.  So few family's have what you always impressed in our upbringing.  The fundamentals of character, decency, integrity and the value of everything.  "its the principle" of the matter were always your words.   How  I recall and  value your  words of wisdom, simple understanding of good living, acts of kindness and protective nature.  And these grand attributes you pressed up us that we continue what you have started and you live on thru us. I love you and miss you dearly. 

So very well said Debi... We always had such fun and damn, who gets the old slipper?!  I miss her like crazy also. Nobody left to get my sense of humor, to call and tell "Those" jokes to... Life sure isn't the same without you ole woman and never will be... I love and miss you mom
Tami

Holidays were always special because mom put everything she could in them. Hours and days preparing great food, pies, and all of us gathering together as ONE.  It’s all about being a part of something purposely better.  We had little but Moms heart was big and we had enough to help others .  Our home was always a refuge to others, whether person or animal they were fed, comforted and safe.  Mom raised  and taught us to be a team, and that has carried all my life forward. I can’t comprehend anything less than that.  In a world of self centered acts,  the greatness of Mom will fall away, but she is alive and well within us for this contagious goodness.  This year is  empty without you Mom, without your silliness,  warmth,  our travels, but mostly without your presence,    I miss you terribly and love you to the heavens.  

There are so many memories I cherish about you Mom, mostly are those about sharing, be involved with helping others and making good change.  If you were 20yrs younger you would be an advocate leading the pack. Maybe that's why you got so much grief because that wasn't popular nor convenient but it was the right thing to do. And like you said,  If you do the right thing you'll live better with yourself.  I miss sharing the day with you and all the silly details of life, even your crazy humorous moments that embarrassed me in Walmart but I got tickled about later and both of us would recount over and over again.   I miss you dearly Mom. Just so empty without you. I know you are alive in each of because you left a legacy of living, and the treasures of your being in us.  I only need to watch Tami and see your silly corks, Traci , who is your strength and foundational resilience, and me Im the Duracell bunny who keeps going and finished one thing and jumps to another.    Im at a golf tournament this week and the weather is gorgeous, maybe cuz it's up north that would be your comment and I would agree.  I love and miss you Mom and I thank God everyday  for giving us YOU.  

Hey Mom, I don't really have a lot to say today except that I miss you and think of you ALOT.. I think of all the fun times we had, fishing and you teaching the girls to fish.  You coming to stay at our house and it was such a joy to have you there. I never felt like so many do that I couldn't wait for you to go home, I love you visiting.  Loved when you would dress up for Halloween and pass out the candy and when Holli dressed as the dead bride and you two were at the garage ... Hilarious!!  I really loved having you around and hanging out with me and the girls and being such a huge part of our lives. You would do their hair and these things were just absolute normal things... So glad to of had you in out lives mom... I love n miss you everyday


Mom encouraged work and play with the same direction.  while playing on a rope in a treehouse with the others I managed to hook my ring on a nail and hung from the tree til Marty lifted me free and bike rode me home.  The closer we got to my house we saw A friend of my moms leaving as soon as we approach the driveway mom looked at my hand and all three of us rushed to the hospital.  while in the ER the doctor said I had to get stitches and was going to get me a couple of shots well of course he put that metal cutter underneath the ring , once they found it on my finger and cut it but they couldn't separate it so they left the room and I remember just crying saying I didn't want them to cut my finger off .  Mom , Who was 90 pounds of tough muscle suddenly became mighty mouse and superwoman in one package . She stuck her beautiful nails under that ring and pulled until that metal opened.  when the doctor returned he was stunned at how she opened that .  of course she broke her nails doing it but needless to say I still needed shots and stitches.  even recently my mom and I were laughing about how powerfully strong she was and how stunned I was to see  powerful love in action.  I miss you so much mom every day.  I miss our talks and your crazy sense of humor that came out of nowhere at times it is true that there is nothing more adoring and no one knows you better than your mother

Happy Father’s Day Mom!   Best Mother Father anyone ever had.  You got  a chuckle when you first started getting those cards from us  but we really meant it. You were both to us kids, no easy job for a parent. But you made it    seem easy and we never lacked anything.  Your strength and constance always amazed me how you managed it all.  Our life was filled with abundance  because of you..... one of the many things I admired  and praised about you  in my many stories and reminders of how Great MY Mother  IS.  Remember when I left for the military,  both of us couldn’t stop crying.  I think that was the first time I ever saw you cry,  and ever time I had to leave you I cried my first 100 miles til I was in my forties.    I love you mom/dad/ and friend.  Very Much. But I miss you even more.  

Happy Fathers Day mom... this is the first yr that I haven't bought you a card for this day .   Some would say that we have missed out on the joy and learning of having a dad in our lives but having you there and you teaching us life and how to stand back up after a fall was far better than having that father in our lives. You taught us so much more  and you were so much fun.  I remember turning it into "Happy Farters  Day" when we decided men do a lot of that.   I miss you every every day mom... I Love you

Years  ago mom and I went to a movie theater to see a movie.  Both of us were starved and knew that food in the movie theater was  prohibited-however,  we took our chances anyway.  So we stopped at Pizza Hut , got a pizza, cut it all up and placed them in Ziploc bags and shoved our pockets full of bagged up pizza and entered the movie theater.  We acted so cool entering that theater, enjoyed that movie for about three hours along with the pizza.  Ever time mom leaned over and asked for another pizza we both laughed and enjoyed the afternoon .  We didn't fool anyone, we reeked of pepperoni and onions within the movie theater but we didn't care we had a good time.   I brought that memory up to her recently and we still both laughed about that.     She was so much fun and I miss her silliness, her mischief laughter and how grand of a mother and friend she was.  When you're with mom you're home. 

 Mother's day  lacked the giddiness of your humor, the beautiful roses, mowing the yard and waiting for the popsicles in the end. I did get us some ice cream,  one that you'd enjoy with the cats looking with interest. I have so many  memories and moments of crazy laughing with you and us kids.  We really had a great childhood! Your example of principle living guided and molded us, I wouldn't trade it for anything.  But right now , I just miss you terribly.  I love you Mom, You were our Angel watch over us and still are!

Happy Mother's Day Mom.... so many holidays since you have passed in this short time...  I  remember for Mother's Day we would all get together and plant and mow and hang out taking care of your yard. It was a lot of fun with the whole herd of us. Traci n I would come over and mow and you would make sure that we had popsicles, yum....  You were a super mom and a great super nana also...  love n miss you

Wow, I am sitting here talking with Debi and my friend/neighbor Lisa about strong will and the way our mom taught us to be who we are and help people and animals and be a strong person.  I've always known that mom taught us these things but talking now that mom has passed makes me realize it now even more.... I love you mom... here is a good pic of some glory days with my mom

Happy Easter Mom... We went up to the farm yesterday to spread mom, Mike and Abby's ashes as that is where mom wanted them. So strange seeing the farm now as the house burned down a few years ago and as an adult everything seems so small.  It seems that when we went there as children the yard that we mowed was HUGE and the distance we rode our bikes went on forever..... It was a grand farm back them and Lagirl n Jim made it even more grand but looking at it yesterday it was a mess of a place with trash everyplace... I love my memories of it as a young girl and playing there and making adventures with Vali n Scott... The women that lived there in their youthI'were exstremely hard workers and made that farm work.  Im happy mom is home and resting... Love n miss you..

   I have so so many memories of my mom as my daughters Nana but one of the Greatest memories is when they were maybe 3 I think and she asked if she could have them for Easter.  I already had everything planned for their Easter but I obliged and let her take them. 
   
   The next morning the girls called to tell me of their Easter experience at Nana's and all of the shenanigans that that lil rascally rabbit did. He washed his hands and moved things!! 

   Years  later when the girls were ready to know the truths of the characters of holidays they informed that there is no way that I could convince them that the Easter bunny wasn't real...  she was a Fantastic Nana and was so creative and made such great times with "her girls" .... the last few months when she would ask Debi about her girls she wasn't referring about her daughters she was talking of Holli and Staci... they were her joy, her girls.... 

Nana was a powerful influence in my life, too, and I’m lucky to have a lot of beautiful, wild, and wonderful memories with her. She taught me a lot. There really aren’t words for it. 

I have really liked reading all of these notes, so I wanted to share one back for you all. 

One weekend, my sister and I were staying at Nana’s (a pretty regular occurrence that was always full of adventure and laughs).  Nana had recently gotten a pepper spray keychain contraption, which I remember having been given to her by my uncle Grant for self defense. It seems like it may have actually come from Aunt Debi since she was a police officer, but that’s not how I remember it anyhow. I think mostly because I think we called Uncle Grant about it later (Spoiler alert!)

At some point in the evening, Nana decided we should test her new pepper spray out, just enough to make sure it worked and would fire for sure if she needed it to. She pointed the spray nozzle directly into the long shag carpet in her living room, and shot a tiny toot of pepper spray millimeters from the floor ... and immediately regretted it!

All three of us were crying and trying to cram our faces in the tiny window in her kitchen to get fresh air because we were on fire!! Our eyes were burning!! We must have laughed all night, Nana definitely yelled a “Shit fire!” or two or three, and I’m  pretty sure Uncle Grant got an earful. 

Those were the good ol’ days I think. 
We will all miss her forever. 
There really is no one like her in my whole world. 



Shirley sure was a special woman, I remember all the neighborhood kids hanging out at her house setting around and always having a good time.  May you rest  Shirley my thoughts and prayers are with the family.

Mom was extra special and she made you feel you were too.  I don’t know of anyone I am admire more and hold to such high esteem as my mom.  She loved her kids, was everything and could do anything.... seriously!  She was also The most giving person I’ve ever known. She made herself available  whether she had anything to give or not , she was there to help and she expected that from us as well.  It was common to have  all the kids in the neighborhood at our house and mom liked it that way.   She was so much fun and her sense of humor would make you laugh til you cried. 
 She was an amazing woman, mother, teacher and confidant and I’m miss her terribly
We love you mom

Shirley Lou was the funniest person in our family. She always walked around singing and getting into trouble by not being to interested in her work. She'd drive our dad crazy.
But she sure could make me laugh. The older she got the better she was at it. 
She made our sandwiches for school. Peanut butter and and dill pickles. That was the only thing I didn't laugh about.
Farewell. Jerry

Shirley was my Nana. My mom Valerie (Vali) was Nana's fifth born and was a little ol stinker as a kid that was always giving Nana a couple of strokes and a heart-attack daily, which is just a quota for a kid anyhow. My mom always loved eating dinner as a kid, because Nana could cook like there was no tomorrow and she loved to do it. Nana always used to say that she couldn't cook for just one, because she spent most of her life cooking for her kids. My mom used to tell me how her mom used to say "Vali, you've got your own hippity-hop." I think Nana used to say that on account of her having her own hippity-hop. I used to visit her when she lived in Flint and we would always have a good time. Sometimes we'd eat cereal from a cup or order Hungry Howie's pizza. One time, we went for a drive and some guy cut her off in traffic and she told him to "go fu"...well, she told him off anyway.  If there's any story I could tell about Nana, then it should be this one: 
When I was five, I played a mouse in a musical version of Hickory-Dickory-Dock. We were performing the whole thing in front of the school, but when they told us that, I thought they meant "in front of the building". So, when we got trotted out in front of 300 kids and everybody's parents, I panicked and ran down the aisle out the door screaming  "They lied!"  Nana was in the audience that day. When Nana saw me running down that aisle, she laughed her ass off. Nana told my mom, "He got so f---ing scared that he ran away and hid! That's the greatest!" From that point on, any time Nana and my mom talked, that story would come up and Nana would laugh her ass off. I'm gonna miss Nana. Nana, I love you. 

Mom was an amazing woman, mom, teacher, care giver, nana.... Her and I always had a wonderful or some would say strange relationship but we sure could make each other laugh. Memories, wow I have loads... I loved it when mom would come and stay with me n the girls and she would make us her special pancakes or when she came for Halloween to dress up as a witch and pass the candy out with turkey feet.. She used wood and hammer n nails and her n the girls made a tomato garden. She taught me to sew and knit and crochet and was tired of making my pants so she taught me to do that. Her children were her life and her love and she was always so proud and we are SO proud to have had her as our mom.. We Love you So So Much Mom...

From the moment that you met Shirley you knew that her life was All about her children...There was no obstacle in life that she would ever let waiver that Love.She will be missed by many...especially "Her Kids" !!!!❤
Prayers of Comfort for Your Family..🙏

OBITUARY

Shirley L Chlupsa

May 1, 1932 – March 16, 2021

Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist-North Chapel and Hamilton Memorial Gardens

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