Paula Evett Shirley

Paula Shirley, 72, of Mt. Pleasant passed away Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015, at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids with her family by her side. Her funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, January 31, at St. Johns Episcopal Church with the Rev. Wayne Nicholson officiating. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery with a reception to follow at the churchs parish hall. The family will receive friends at the church on Friday from 6-8 p.m. and on Saturday one hour prior to the service. Memorials may be made to St. Johns Building Fund. Envelopes will be available at the church or at Charles R. Lux Family Funeral Home. Paula was born Nov. 16, 1942, in Boulder, CO, daughter of the late Paul Loyd and Mary Louise (Sydow) Evett.After her family moved to Mt. Pleasant in the late 1940s, she attended the College Elementary School on the CMU campus and graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in 1960. In 1964 she received her B.A. degree in elementary education from Transylvania University in Lexington, KY, where she met her future husband, David Shirley. The couple married on April 7, 1969 at St. Johns Episcopal Church in Mt. Pleasant. In 1978 she earned her M.A. degree in library science from CMU. In the early years of her career, she taught at elementary schools. She will be remembered best as the library lady with the big smile at West Intermediate School where she served until her retirement a few years ago. She was a devout and active parishioner at St. Johns Episcopal Church. Over the years, she sang soprano in the choir, served on the Altar Guild and the Parish Vestry, including a term as Senior Warden. She and her husband tended the church garden and she oversaw the creation of St. Johns Grow Garden on the CMU campus to help feed the hungry in the community. She and her family donated the first pipe organ in the history of the parish and expanded it twice. She was a superb cook and loved to plan parties and receptions. She enjoyed piano playing, herb and flower gardening, stitchery, and summers on the shores of Crystal Lake in Beulah and Lake Michigan. She was a voracious reader all of her life with an amazing memory to match. Above all, she relished long dinner conversations with friends and family. Paula is survived by her husband, David; four children, Geoffrey (Renee) Shirley of East Grand Rapids, Katherine (Michael) Peterson of Clarkston, Margaret Meg (Jeffrey) Bennett of Grand Rapids and Eleanor Nel (Alan) Boose of Mt. Pleasant; seven grandchildren, Grace and Madeline Peterson, Cali and Evan Boose, Grayson and Graham Bennett and Julia Shirley; two step-grandchildren, Erica and Jennifer Boose; one brother, Stuart (Hope) Evett of Boise, ID; three sisters-in-law, Marianne Evett of Arlington, MA, Deborah Evett of Ann Arbor and Emily Evett of Ypsilanti; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; two brothers, David Evett and the Rev. Douglas Evett.