A LIFETIME OF SERVICE

WILLIE MAE SHIRLEY

I returned late yesterday from Corpus Christi where I attended the funeral of my wife's grandmother. In his remarks, the Most Reverend Michael Mulvey, STL, DD, Bishop of Corpus Christi, stated that he had rarely seen the funeral of a 99 year-old fill a church. Not only was Saint Pius X Church full, there were over a dozen priests, the Bishop, perhaps a dozen Incarnate Word Sisters, and many others.

It was striking how many people this quiet, unassuming woman touched in her long life. Born in 1917, Wilhemina Anna Janosek (Willie Mae) married Bob Shirley in the Corpus Christi Cathedral in 1940. I understand they were only the second couple to be married there. They had eight children, one of whom (Reverend Monsignor Richard Shirley) officiated the funeral mass.

"Mee-Maw" did not write Supreme Court decisions, win naval battles, or invent lifesaving drugs. She has no statues at major universities, nor is there an endowed chair in her name. Despite this, I believe she offers a valuable lesson that we forget in the buzz of activity that is modern life. Quite simply, she grew and thrived where she was planted. Perhaps, every one of us has a role to fill; a vocation or mission to be accomplished in our short time here. She took what she was given, accepted the good and bad as it came, and won her race.

Resquiescat in pace.