SHIRLEY MAY STERLING MCKEEVER

October 07, 1922 ~ April 09, 2025

Mom died of old age. She lived an  amazing 102 years 6 months and 2 days. Her body parts just quit  working. 

Shirley was born on October 7,  1922 in Hugo, Colorado, to  Ember and Agnes Sterling. She  spent her early years in Hugo and  graduated from Hugo High school. 

She attended nursing school at  the University of Colorado in  Boulder.

Shirley preferred to spend her own money. When she was a child she  got an allowance which she used to buy penny candy. Soon she was  selling angel food cakes that she baked. After high school she  worked as a telephone operator at a switch board. Some years ago she got a cellphone so she could be like everyone else. When she  was in college she worked as a server in the dorm cafeteria. In  Albuquerque Shirley worked on election boards and sold cosmetics.

During her time at CU while planning a dance for the “barbarians”  (students who did not belong to a sorority or fraternity) she met  Charles McKeever. They discovered that they shared the same  birthdate exactly one year apart. Charles was the man with whom  Shirley celebrated almost 72 years of marriage. (Mom was mad at  Dad for dying just before their anniversary). 

In the first 10 years of their marriage they moved 10 times and lived in  10 different houses. They went wherever Chuck’s job took them.  Eventually Chuck got a good job in Albuquerque, New Mexico and  they stayed there in the same house for more than 40 years.

Shirley worked from home; reared 4 children, worked with the Girl  Scouts and Boy Scouts, founded and led choirs in our Church and  participated in more than one Church dinner. Her true musical love  was four part harmony in Sweet Adelines. She joined a chorus and a  quartet in Albuquerque. In both the chorus and the quartet she competed in many tournaments across the southwest. One tournament win got her an opportunity to sing in Carnegie Hall in New  York.

After all of her children were grown and flown Shirley decided she  wanted to live near her mother who still lived in Hugo in the same  house. Shirley and Chuck decided Longmont was a good place. 

Fortunately for her children Shirley and Chuck enjoyed playing  games. Especially card games. In Albuquerque they would host  occasional bridge nights, making sure the children were occupied  and entertained with their own games like Uncle Wigley or Chutes  and Ladders. In Longmont they continued to play bridge, sometimes  out with each other in a bridge group and then later Mom joined a  ladies bridge group and would host games at her home. 

Due to Chuck’s habit of walking the neighborhood every day and  making friends with the people he ran into, Shirley had the benefit of  great neighborly care. Her trash cans were put out and taken back in,  her mail brought to her front door from her mailbox on the sidewalk,  her newspaper brought up to her front porch and a new hairdo once in a while. Thanks to her daughter, Shirley got out of her house to go  look at birds and flowers, which she loved to do, and occasionally out  for Sunday dinner with her family. 

With her passing an era ends. Her life spanned from one pandemic to  the next, she bore witness to prohibition, flapper dresses, the dust  bowl, the Great Depression, WWII, the infamous 'I Have a Dream'  speech, the assassination of JFK, Neil Armstrong’s moon walk, the  Vietnam War, the Cold War, 9/11, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq and who  knows what else. Technology boomed as we explored space,  discovered nuclear technology and developed AI.

Shirley is survived by 2 siblings, 3 children, 2 grandchildren, 2 great  grandchildren and more cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles than one person can count. Predeceased include her husband, one  child, one sister and one brother.