Shirley Virginia Nye, 100
Funeral services for Shirley Virginia Nye, 100, of Gepp, Arkansas, will be 2 p.m. Dec. 22, 2021, at the Bakersfield Full Gospel Church with Max Phipps officiating. Interment will be in the Littleton Cemetery in Littleton, Colorado.
She died Dec. 11, peacefully in her sleep. She was born July 26, 1921, in Campo, Colorado, the daughter of John A. Brown and Dorothy L. Altman Brown.
She graduated from Lamar High School in Lamar, Colorado in 1939, and continued her education at University Northern Colorado, where she met her future husband William Junior Nye. Both Shirley and William graduated from the university in 1946.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in art and education, Shirley looked for a teaching position in a rural area. She found two openings at a small schoolhouse in Wetmore, Colorado, that included children of all ages.
Shirley told her family that there was only one apartment in town. She and William married, and lived in the apartment together. The couple had one child, William John Nye.
Over her long teaching career she taught children in first through fifth grades, but she loved teaching fourth grade the most. Her husband also taught at the school, with his work focused on grades sixth through twelfth.
Shirley also worked in the Women’s Air Core (WAC), the program in which Rosie the Riveter represented. Shirley served as an inventory specialist and delivery driver at Moffett Field, Mountain View, California during World War II in the program.
Shirley and her husband looked for farm to purchase, and in 1949 the couple found 43 acres of land for sale within the Platte Canyon in Littleton, Colorado. They purchased the land and lived a happy life, “…getting up at 3 a.m. and again in the evening, after teaching school, to milk cows for the dairy industry,” a family member recounted. After 10 years of milking, the couple decided to sell the dairy cattle and for a short time sold Chinchillas, raising the animals for skins. Once that endeavor ended, the Nyes converted the ranch into rental properties and eventually sold the farm in 1985.
Shirley moved to Gepp, Arkansas, where her son built her a cottage. She lived with some of the most fabulous caregivers one could ask for. She enjoyed traveling both domestically and abroad, snow skiing and loved riding horses. The last time she rode her horse was at the age of 84. She stopped driving a car at 94.
Shirley attended Full Gospel Church in Bakersfield and loved the things of God.
She taught everyone around her how to live life to the fullest and keep going until there is no go left. She was loved by her family, friends and so many others. She was faithful to all who knew her. She will be so very missed.
Shirley is survived by her son William and wife Monique; grandson Marshall and wife Celeste; step-grandsons Andrew and wife Julie and Stephen and wife Shayla; step-daughter Shannon and husband Eric; 12 great grandchildren; and 1 great-great grandchild.
Arrangements are under the direction of Barker Funeral Home, LLC in Salem, Arkansas.