Shirley Ann Buckles

Shirley Ann Donney Buckles was born November 1, 1929, in Waverly, Minnesota. She also lived in Illinois, but the last forty-seven years of her life were spent in Florida. She died on October 22, 2016 at South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City, Florida. Shirley was preceded in death by her beloved husband William "Bill" Buckles, her mother Anna Leona Pfleghaar, her father William Henry Donney and all of her eight brothers and sisters. She was the youngest of the nine children and the last surviving member of her immediate family. In her family, each of the older siblings was assigned to one of the younger siblings to help with their care. Her sister Rosalie was assigned to her and this created a special bond between the two sisters. Growing up in Minnesota, she loved swimming in the beautiful lakes in the summer months and ice skating in the winter months. She was a talented skater and an extremely fast skater on the ice. Because of this, her brother Raymond would let her play outdoor hockey with him and the boys, despite objections from her mother. Throughout her life, she would escape into her books and even read several books a week into her early eighties. A major tragedy in Shirley’s life was losing her mother when she was only sixteen. She often said it was her love of reading and learning that helped her get through this difficult time. Shirley was valedictorian of her graduating class from Lourdes High School in Rochester, Minnesota. She attended the College of Saint Teresa, a Catholic women’s college in Winona, Minnesota. Shirley was a devout Catholic and loved her faith and prayer life. During her time at Saint Teresa’s she became a Third Order Franciscan and contemplated a religious vocation. To help pay for continuing education she worked at various jobs in her life and even spent a summer in Colorado. She eventually moved to Champaign, Illinois to attend the University of Illinois where she earned an advanced degree in mathematics. When she graduated with honors in 1953 she had earned forty-five hours beyond her masters and was among the top 3% in her graduating class for that year, and thus has her name inscribed on a bronze tablet in the library at the University of Illinois. After graduating, Shirley began her mathematics teaching career and this became one of her greatest passions in life. To help with paying her bills she began working as a part-time cashier in the evenings at a movie theater. One night after work she missed her bus and was offered a ride home by one of the assistant managers of the theater. His name was Bill and her life from that night on changed forever, for Bill was the love of her life. Shirley married Bill and together they had four children in five years. At one point in their marriage, Shirley was given an opportunity to move to Texas and be a part of the early development of the space program there. Shirley turned down the offer and chose motherhood over her career. She decided to stay home with her children for the next ten years and these were some of the happiest years of her life. Shirley was an outstanding cook and many memories of her are of her singing in the kitchen while baking bread, cookies and making so many other wonderful treats. The hub of the house was always in Shirley’s kitchen. Shirley and her family moved to Sarasota, Florida in December of 1969. She taught mathematics at Brookside Junior High and Sarasota High School. She made many lasting and wonderful friendships with other teachers during this time period and was an inspiration and mentor to so many of her students. In addition to her family life and teaching, Shirley enjoyed attending mass at Incarnation Catholic Church, praying the rosary, watching Jeopardy, and working on crossword puzzles. Shirley and Bill were lovingly devoted to each other until the day Bill unexpectedly died in July of 1984. After her husband’s death she stayed at Sarasota High School until she retired at age sixty-five. Her retirement revolved around her extended family. Shirley is survived by her four children and her daughter-in-law: Cathy Petz of Sarasota, William and Patsy Buckles of Plant City, Julie Francavilla of Plant City, and Lori McGinley of Plant City. Her grandchildren Heather Petz of Sarasota, Juliana Opsahl and her husband Matt of Clearwater, Christopher Petz and his wife Beth of Largo, Billy "Bubby" Buckles of Plant City, Matthew Buckles of Plant City, Andrew McGinley of Plant City, Ashley McGinley of Tampa, and Aubrey Francavilla of Tallahassee gave her many years of laughter and bliss. One of the greatest joys of her life, was to spend time with her eight grandchildren and her seven great grandchildren and to see them grow from babies to adulthood. In the last two years, Shirley’s health was declining and she could no longer live on her own. For this reason, she moved to the twenty-acre farm owned by two of her grandsons and she shared a home on their property with her son Bill and her daughter-in-law Patsy. Here she was treated with the utmost dignity, compassion and love and she would light up whenever anyone would come to visit her at the farm. Shirley is now in the loving embrace of Jesus and his mother Mary, dancing in heaven with her Bill after thirty-two years apart, and reunited with all of the loved ones of her life. Her visitation will be at Wiegand Brothers Funeral Home in Sarasota from 6:00 – 8:00 pm on Wednesday, November 2, and her funeral mass will be at Incarnation Catholic Church in Sarasota at 1:00 pm on Thursday, November 3. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to Moffitt Cancer Center Foundation. Donations can be made by mailing a check to 12092 Magnolia Drive MBC-FOUND, Tampa, FL 33612, by calling 1-800-456-3434 ext. 1403 or online at www.moffitt.org/giving. www.wiegandbrothers.com