Shirley Joan (Westphal) Mac Murray passed away peacefully in Anderson, Indiana the morning of August 30, 2024. She was 99 years old.
Shirley was born to Warren and Helen Westphal on March 10, 1925, in Harvey, Illinois and lived most of her life in the Chicago area. Shirley grew up in Chicago Heights and after attending college, she lived and worked in Chicago before marrying and moving to the Chicago south suburbs. In 1990, she retired with her husband, Charles, to Murray, Kentucky, and later relocated to Anderson, Indiana in 2005.
Shirley graduated from Bloom High School (1942) in Chicago Heights, Illinois and from Cornell College (1946) in Mount Vernon, Iowa earning a bachelor’s degree in Biology. She completed an internship in Medical Technology at Michael Reese Hospital and the University of Chicago and was Board certified in Medical Technology by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (1948). Shirley worked for several years in Chicago at the University of Illinois Research Hospital in the Bacteriology and Chemistry Laboratories and at the Michigan Avenue office of the Medical Director of Michael Reese Hospital.
Shirley met her husband, Charlie (Mac) in high school and the two fell in love through letters they exchanged while Charlie was serving in Europe during World War II. They married on March 13, 1949, in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Shirley and Charlie raised three children, Bruce, Craig, and Kristin, in a home they designed in Flossmoor, Illinois.
Shirley loved being a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and a volunteer in her local community. She enjoyed raising her three children as well as three Golden Retriever “children” over the years. She was an avid crafter excelling in cross-stitch, knitting, and needlepoint. Shirley loved gifting her works to others and her projects were highly sought at church Christmas events. She also loved gardening, her flower beds and yard were the envy of her neighbors. She was a member and served in several leadership positions with both the Woman’s Club and Garden Club in Flossmoor. She volunteered at her children’s schools and was a Girl Scout Leader for many years camping with the girls in the sun, rain, or snow.
Shirley was known as a wonderful baker making a huge variety of cookies each Christmas for family and friends. She was also an excellent cook hosting exquisite luncheons and gourmet dinners for social gatherings and Charlie’s clients.
Shirley and her family loved traveling to the Northwoods of Wisconsin for swimming and family game playing in a cabin, as well as vacationing, particularly in the West, to explore and enjoy many of America’s National Parks. In her later years, Shirley often remarked how thankful she was for those wonderful trips as a family in times when the parks were more basic, pristine, and less crowded.
After staying at home to raise her three children, Shirley fulfilled her lifelong ambition to become a Nurse completing an associate’s degree in Nursing at Prairie State Community College. Upon passing her boards Shirley went on to earn her RN and worked in the Critical Care Unit (CCU) and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for ten years at a 650-bed hospital (Ingalls Memorial, Harvey, Illinois) and then went on to serve as a Clinical Allergy Nurse at a medical center (Chicago Heights, Illinois). The same year that Shirley earned her associates degree, 1978, her daughter (Kristin) graduated from high school, her younger son (Craig) graduated with his BA from Cornell College (Shirley’s alma mater) and her elder son (Bruce) earned his doctorate degree from the University of Iowa.
Shirley was a devoted Christian and an active member of the United Methodist Church all her life, serving as a Sunday school and Vacation Bible school teacher, a Book Club member and Chair of Deaconesses at Flossmoor Community Church in Flossmoor, Illinois. Both in Murray, Kentucky and in Anderson, Indiana, Shirley was a member of the First United Methodist Church and was active in local affiliated Women’s Circles. Shirley volunteered as a Reading Tutor in the Anderson Community Schools at the elementary grade level for several years. She was also a member and leader of the Congenials monthly ladies’ lunch group when she and Charlie lived in College Park Condominiums (Anderson).
Shirley moved to Assisted Living at Bethany Pointe in Anderson, Indiana in 2011. She remained active there as a resident using her crafting skills and nursing background in whatever activities took place and as a “Volunteer Aid” to offer helpful conversation and assistance, including pushing wheelchairs for other residents. In 2018, Shirley moved to Primrose Retirement Center in Anderson where she made many new friends and continued her love of crafts, shifting to hand-stamping greeting cards and reading as her main hobbies. She was known for making over 100 cards for major holidays to distribute not only to family and friends by mail, but also to hand out to residents and staff in the Dining Room at Primrose. Shirley always referred to her crafts as “her therapy” and she was well served by such self-therapy until her last year of life. She became an avid reader during her time in Assisted Living and often commented that she appreciated “having the time now to catch up on my reading, which I didn’t have for most of my life when I was too busy doing other things.” She and Charlie were both major patrons of the libraries in Murray and especially in Anderson. She enjoyed reading a variety of books, especially historical accounts, biographies, and light novels.
Shirley was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Charles (2009), her parents, Warren and Helen Westphal of Chicago Heights, Illinois, her sister, Barbara Wade of Merced, California, her brother, Warren Westphal, of Harshaw, Wisconsin and her son, Craig of Lake Villa, Illinois. She leaves her son, Dr. Bruce (Sheila) Mac Murray of Anderson, Indiana and her daughter, Kristin (George) Schmelter of Estes Park, Colorado, four grandchildren, Nicholas (Lorena Trevino) Mac Murray of Kansas City, Missouri, Dr. Benjamin (Dr. Heather) Mac Murray of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Samantha Schmelter and Alexander Schmelter of Loveland, Colorado and one great-grandchild, Jonas Mac Murray of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Our family offers our thanks to the nurses, aids, and other staff and residents who provided their care, love, and friendship to Shirley over the past 10 plus years at Bethany Pointe and Primrose. We also want to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to Rachel and her team with Heartland Hospice for their tremendous work, support, and care, for all of us through the last phase of Shirley’s life.
A private celebration-of-life service honoring Shirley will be held in Colorado in the near future. If you would like to remember and honor Shirley, memorial donations may be made to the First United Methodist Church, Anderson, Indiana, the Anderson Public Library, or your favorite charity in her name.
Local arrangements were handled by Rozelle-Johnson Funeral Service.
Post online condolences at www.rozelle-johnson.com