Obituary of Edna Brown Shirley

Edna Brown Shirley, age 92, of Queen Street, Boone, passed away Tuesday morning, January 1, 2019 at her home. Born October 23, 1926 in Watauga County, she was a daughter of Ralph and Alma Hartley Brown. Edna was raised in the Shull’s Mill community enjoying the mountains her family had resided in for generations. She reminisced often, speaking of her youth and grinning as she recalled working the candy counter at the Dime Store serving the Army fellas chocolate covered peanuts. Edna met husband, Guy Shirley during the summer of 1946 and married soon after. She spent her entire life determined to make a good home for him and their children, sharing her love for Jesus and the word of God throughout. She cared for her family, spending countless hours putting up Guy’s never ending garden produce and frying up his enumerable fish. She loved making her kids and grandkids their favorite dishes and sending them home with fresh baked coconut cakes and cases of homemade spaghetti sauce. She worked hard outside the home as well, spending the last 25 years before retirement as an aide on a school bus for exceptional children, loving and caring for them as she would her own. Edna loved her life-long friends Odena Wilson, Dare Triplett and June Howser, sharing laughter and tears as the years passed. Mom, you have done well, you have completed the race. We would like to thank Tammy Testerman for providing exceptional care the past 6 years and being a true friend to our mom. Also, we express our heart-felt gratitude to caregivers Debbie McClure, Tanya Smith and loving granddaughter, Amber Shirley for making sure our mother was always cared for. Thank you also to the staff of MediHome Hospice who walked this journey beside us. She is survived by her daughter, Donna McNulty and husband, Jerry, of Seymour, TN.; sons, Tom Shirley and wife, Pam, of Vilas and Terry Shirley and wife, Bente, of Portland, Maine; 9 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren; sister-in-law, Flossie Brown of Trade, TN; and brother-in-law, Joe Shirley of Huntington Beach, CA. She was preceded in death by her husband, Guy Marshall Shirley; son, Bobby Guy Shirley; and 3 brothers, Murl, Max and Ed Brown. Funeral services for Edna Brown Shirley will be conducted Saturday afternoon, January 5, at 2 o’clock at the Austin & Barnes Funeral Chapel, officiated by Rev. Virginia Peurifoy and Mr. Scott Eggers. The family will receive friends Saturday from 1 until 2 o’clock, prior to services, at Austin & Barnes. Graveside services will follow at Mount Lawn Memorial Park and Gardens. Online condolences may be shared at www.austinandbarnesfuneralhome.com Austin & Barnes Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the Shirley family.