Shirley Lucille Forslund Barton

Once upon a time in the town of Denver, Colorado in the year 1927, a light from God came to live among us in the form of Shirley L Forslund. To her parents Erwin and Hazel, and brother Gordon, this was a blessed moment, to the rest of the world it was a mere whisper.

Her life journey then unfolded like a “newsreel.” Following her father’s work on oil pipelines in the Middle East, the family endured a last minute escape from the Holy Land through U-boat infested waters aboard the “Queen Mary”. After a safe arrival in the US, Erwin took his family to the Pacific Northwest, to Portland, Oregon, where he organized a group of pipefitters in the Kaiser ship building yards, which produced 141 military ships in less than 44 months. As her life normalized after the war Shirley contracted polio. Laying in her bed, half-paralyzed, she would dream she was, “holding a thin silver thread, and if I let go . . . I would die.” She never let go. Shirley moved out of the polio ward to raise a family and fulfill a life’s interest in art. In 1961 she met Austin Barton in art school, married, and combined two families into a cluster of 10. Together, over the next 23 years, they would create thousands of illustrations for the fashion & merchandise industry. With a firm grasp on their faith and love at the age of 57, they found their life’s purpose; bronze sculpting. Eventually, over 1,400 bronzes would dot the globe in a dozen countries, with 27 life-sized monuments on public display.

On the last full day of her life it was family she visited with, chatting up a long line of sons, daughters, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends - not to mention the hospital staff who would exclaim, “How wonderful she is.” Even God would honor her with a clear day and full view of her beloved mountains.

Shirley L Barton passed from her earthly home of nearly 84 years on November 3, 2011. She is survived by Austin A. Barton, her husband of 48 years. Sons; Al Barton (& wife Coleen), Tim Ryerse (& wife Mary Anne) , Jim Barton, and daughters Debby Groth (& husband Bob), Janet Clements (& husband Rick), Teresa Ryerse (and fiancé Tony), Louella Bennet (& husband Jack), and Gayle Ryerse, plus 11 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at Gateway Little Chapel of the Chimes in Portland, Oregon on, November 19, 2011, 2pm @ 5pm. For more information, or to sign her virtual guest book, go to: www.gatewaylittlechapel.com

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Once upon a time in the town of Denver, Colorado in the year 1927, a light from God came to live among us in the form of Shirley L Forslund. To her parents Erwin and Hazel, and brother Gordon, this was a blessed moment, to the rest of the world it was a mere whisper.

Her life journey then unfolded like a “newsreel.” Following her father’s work on oil pipelines in the Middle East, the family endured a last minute escape from the Holy Land through U-boat infested waters aboard the “Queen Mary”. After a safe arrival in the US, Erwin took his family to the Pacific Northwest, to Portland, Oregon, where he organized a group of pipefitters in the Kaiser ship building yards, which produced 141 military ships in less than 44 months. As her life normalized after the war Shirley contracted polio. Laying in her bed, half-paralyzed, she would dream she was, “holding a thin silver thread, and if I let go . . . I would die.” She never let go. Shirley moved out of the polio ward to raise a family and fulfill a life’s interest in art. In 1961 she met Austin Barton in art school, married, and combined two families into a cluster of 10. Together, over the next 23 years, they would create thousands of illustrations for the fashion & merchandise industry. With a firm grasp on their faith and love at the age of 57, they found their life’s purpose; bronze sculpting. Eventually, over 1,400 bronzes would dot the globe in a dozen countries, with 27 life-sized monuments on public display.

On the last full day of her life it was family she visited with, chatting up a long line of sons, daughters, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends - not to mention the hospital staff who would exclaim, “How wonderful she is.” Even God would honor her with a clear day and full view of her beloved mountains.

Shirley L Barton passed from her earthly home of nearly 84 years on November 3, 2011. She is survived by Austin A. Barton, her husband of 48 years. Sons; Al Barton (& wife Coleen), Tim Ryerse (& wife Mary Anne) , Jim Barton, and daughters Debby Groth (& husband Bob), Janet Clements (& husband Rick), Teresa Ryerse (and fiancé Tony), Louella Bennet (& husband Jack), and Gayle Ryerse, plus 11 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at Gateway Little Chapel of the Chimes in Portland, Oregon on, November 19, 2011, 2pm @ 5pm. For more information, or to sign her virtual guest book, go to: www.gatewaylittlechapel.com