Shirley A Somers

Died 8 June 2025 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Shirley was a woman of many firsts. When she was born, premature, she was the first baby to use the new incubators in the hospital. She grew up living with her grandparents and grew close to her loving aunt/sister Hazel. There were many more children in that family, and Hazel was three years older than she was. She had a knack for memorizing things and recited Psalm 23 completely on many occasions.

She joined a radio station and became the first woman in Indiana to get her FCC Engineering license. She loved talking on the radio and doing live shows at different locations. Shirley’s smile was one of her most noted traits. She was always smiling, and everyone always expected to see that smile. Nicknamed Smiling Shirley when she was on the radio. She then moved onto the industry and became the first woman to manage the HR department at Donnelley’s Publishing. She moved to Florida in 1977 and worked in many different towns as a law secretary.

She met her husband Doug Somers in Orlando, Florida, in 1986 and married him in 1988. They lived in Titusville, Florida, 1988 – 2005 when they moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was very active in Presbyterian Church in Titusville, where she filled in for the pastor on multiple occasions and continued to do sermons in the Presbyterian church in Colorado Springs One of her favorite sermons she created was called “It’s all about me”. She later joined the Good Shepherd Methodist Church in Colorado Springs. She loved going to church, and when it became too hard to get to church, she watched it on YouTube.

A celebration of life for Shirley will be held Saturday, July 19, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, 1201 Leta Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80911.