Shirley West East

Shirley Janice West was born on July 11, 1948, in Dallas, Texas. She was the youngest daughter of G.D. and Geraldine West. Edith had a cousin by the name of James W. East. On one occasion, Shirley (15 years old) was with Edith and ran into James (16 years old). Edith introduced them. Shirley thought James was a jerk.

James went into the Army in 1965 and was shipped off to Vietnam. Sgt. East was honorably discharged from the Army in 1968. A short time later, Edith set James and Shirley up on a blind date. This time, they hit it off and on August 9, 1968, they got married. It’s always been said that East will never meet West. Well, they proved everybody wrong. Their marriage was in the local papers.

On January 28, 1970, James and Shirley had a baby boy. He was born with a full head of hair including sideburns. All of the nurses nicknamed him “Little Elvis” but his parents named him James Duane East. Little did they know that he would grow into a sneaky, smart aleck little rascal. But they didn’t learn their lesson. Thay had another little boy named Michael Wayne East born on May 31, 1971, and unfortunately for Jame and Shirley, Mike followed and surpassed his big brother in being sneaky and being a rascal. But his big brother had Mike beat in the smart aleck department.

In 1971, they bought a 1968 Road Runner that had no equal. By all accounts Shirley was a beautiful, sweet, petite young lady, but that’s before she got behind the wheel of that Road Runner. Once she was behind the wheel, her eyes began to glow, her hair caught fire, her foot turned to lead, and her right arm turned into lightning. I can see Shirley look over at James William and say, “Clutch?! I don’t need no stinking clutch!!!” She put it in gear and was gone!

Shirley and James were married for 56 years until her passing on January 6, 2025. Shirley leaves behind a loving husband, James William East ; two sons, James Duane East, 54, of Gun Barrel City and Michael Wayne East, 53, of Gun Barrel City; 15 grandkids; 21 great-grandkids with two more on the way; plus one great-great-grandson.

Shirley Janice East was a loving wife and mother, a doting grandmother, great and great-great grandmother.

A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held at Lifeline Church in Gun Barrel City on February 2, 2025 at 2:00pm.