Shirley Merle (Badon) Tabony

Shirley Merle Badon Tabony passed from this life on Sunday, May 17, 2026, a woman who spent every year she was given pouring into the lives of those around her. She was a teacher, a faithful servant, a devoted wife, a beloved grandmother, and a friend to anyone willing to sit and listen. Her life was not measured in years, but in the children she shaped, the faith she shared, and the love she left behind.

Shirley was born and raised in the Kentwood, Louisiana area, a small town that shaped a woman with a great heart. At thirteen, she made the move to New Orleans, and it was there that her life truly took root. At twenty years old, she married the love of her life, William H. "Bill" Tabony Jr., beginning a partnership that would span sixty-eight remarkable years. She earned her associate's degree in education from Delgado University and devoted her life to the classroom. Teaching was never just a profession for Shirley — it was her calling. She poured herself into her students, year after year, decade after decade. In 1995, she and Bill made their home in Calera, Alabama, and Shirley continued her life's work, teaching K4 at Evangel Christian School until the day she retired. But her greatest classroom was never bound by four walls. Shirley taught her grandchildren and great-grandchildren about faith, about kindness, and about what it means to live with purpose. She was present at every church she attended, faithful in worship until her very last days, and openly shared her belief with anyone who would listen. Her faith was not something she kept to herself — it was the organizing principle of her life, and she gave it away freely.

Preceded in death by her parents, Mary and Jim Badon; her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. H.J. Jenkins; and her sister, Hilda Ruth Badon Sarrat.

She is survived by her beloved husband of 68 years, William H. "Bill" Tabony Jr. Her children, William H. Tabony III (Lynn) & Nancy Tabony Britton (John). Her sister, Mary Pearl Keller, her grandchildren, Christopher John Britton (Lindey), Denise Cheri’ Abney (Jonah), Jacob Daniel Britton (Emily), Alicia Tabony Vincent), and Allyson Tabony Burch (Scott), great-grandchildren, Anderson Crew Britton, Harper Lynn Britton, Lowen Cheri Abney, Jovie Allyn Abney, Jace Tabony, Brice Burch, Braydon Burch, and Blake Burch. Her niece and nephews, Cheryl Holiday Bedsaul, Gregory Blackwell, and Charlie Blackwell, along with dozens of cousins.

The family will receive friends on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm at Southern Heritage Funeral Home with a service to follow at noon in the chapel.

"She taught us what it looks like to live for something greater than yourself. We are better because she was here."