Shirley Tuck Oakes

Shirley Oakes, 92, passed away on Sunday, May 23, 2021 at her home in Forest. Born in Roanoke as Shirley Mae Tuck, the daughter of the late James Everett Tuck and Mary Goad Tuck, she grew up in Moneta.

Upon graduating from Moneta High School in 1946, she came to Lynchburg to stay with her aunt and uncle and train as a beautician. She soon met William Preston Oakes, who she married on November 27, 1946, joining West Lynchburg Baptist Church where he was a lifetime member. Together Bill and Shirley ran Specialty Sandwich Co. for more than twenty years, with Shirley supervising the making and wrapping of sandwiches while Bill drove a truck that distributed them to small businesses throughout Central Virginia and managed the business.

The greatest loves of her life, other than her husband Bill, were her dogs, who over the years included Poopendickle, Gretchen, Lady, Bobo, and Sophie, and her dolls. For years she collected dolls at yard sales and doll shows and redressed many of them with homemade clothes. She could sit for hours, often while visiting Bill during his many long hospital stays, creating original masterpieces of crochet work, adapting her work to the shape of each individual doll without the use of a pattern.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of 42 years, William Preston Oaks, her sister, Barbara T. Dixon, two infant sisters, Mary and Vivian, her parents-in-law, Lizzie and Muncey Oakes, with whom she lived for many years, and two nieces, Joy Ruth Horn and Theresa Ann Mumey. She is survived by two nieces, Sharon Dixon Smith and Linda O. Chiveral, two nephews, Carl Wayne Wooldridge and Robert Preston Oakes, and several great nieces, great nephews, and cousins. She will be sorely missed by all those who knew her well including her close friend Daniel Maltz.

A service celebrating her life will be conducted at 1:00 p.m. Friday, May 28, 2021 at Whitten Timberlake Chapel with Pastor Chris Jordan officiating. Interment will follow in Fort Hill Memorial Park.

The family will receive friends for one hour prior to the service.