Shirley Esther Story

Shirley Esther, the fourth daughter of Stephen and Mildred Toth, was born at home in William’s Lake, MI, on Monday January 13, 1936. She was so tiny her mom put her in a shoe box. Maybe that’s when her love for shoes began. Shirley died at home on Sunday, June 29, 2025. She was 89 years, 5 months, and 16 days old.

Shirley grew up in Lake Orion, MI. She was a fun-loving, hard-working child. Her mother would wake Shirley at 4:30 am so Shirley could make a half-sandwich for her mom while her mom was outside scraping ice off the car windshield to go to work manufacturing cars in downtown Detroit. Shirley got her first job at age 13, working in a grocery store. She worked all through High School, but still managed to excel at the flute, play basketball, and cheer for her school. She even graduated as Salutatorian from Lake Orion High School in 1954. She went on to study nursing at Mount Carmel Mercy Hospital in Detroit, MI, graduating in 1957.

While she was a nursing student, her older sister Hazel and brother-in-law Bruce invited her to a Christian Youth Conference. She decided to go. The first song they sang was “When We All Get to Heaven.” It was the first time she had heard a Christian song, and it made a big impression on her. She thought to herself, “these people are really happy!” By the end of the night, the very first time she heard about Jesus and His sacrificial love for her, she made the decision to ask Jesus to be her Savior.

Soon after she became a believer, she met a handsome young math teacher named Ed Story. Their first date was at Greenfield Village in Detroit. Shirley “accidentally” lost an earring in Ed’s car, and, of course, she had to write and ask Ed if he had found it, and that was the beginning of a long and loving friendship. They were married on November 23, 1957.

In 1969, Ed and Shirley and their three daughters, Kim, Kathy, and Kristen, migrated to Tucson, hoping for better health and relief from Michigan grayness. They have always been faithfully involved in church. Shirley taught Children’s Church every Sunday for 50 years. If you stopped by her house any evening of the week, chances were good she was making song charts, planning memory verse games, or cutting out flannel for her Bible lesson. Throughout the years, Shirley worked as a nurse in various doctor’s offices and in Home Health, and she worked at the U of A Math Department for a while, but her true joy and calling was in teaching children the Word of God.

Shirley enjoyed sewing, collecting shoes (size 5 AAA), and shopping at Plunkett’s or Cracker Barrel. Or anywhere really.

She loved to buy little gifts for family and tried to feed anyone who walked in her home. She was actively involved in her grandchildren’s lives and was always interested in what her great-grandchildren were up to. But her biggest concern was how they were doing in their own walks with God. She cared very deeply about her whole family. Many of her last words were about caring for the people she loved.

Shirley was preceded in death by her parents, beloved sisters Jean, Hazel, Barbara, and Helen, and by her little brother Larry. She is survived by her husband of 67 and a half years, Edward, by three daughters, Kim Caswell (Michael), Kathy Green (Terry), and Kristen Schafer (Tim), and by seven grandchildren (Jessica, Nathan, Meagan, Courtney, Benjamin, Hannah, and Katie) and 19 great-grandchildren.

It was a privilege to know her, and we will miss her greatly, but it is wonderful to know that her suffering is over and she is with Jesus.