Shirley was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but her family soon moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, where she grew up. After graduating from Ottumwa High School in 1947, Shirley moved to Fort Worth, Texas to go to work for Braniff Airways. Always the model of decorum, few people know that while in training with the airline, Shirley and her roommate were kicked out of their boarding house by their puritanical landlordess for – gasp! – going out on a date with two young men.
While working at Braniff, Shirley met her first husband, Bill McCoy. They were married in 1949. After Bill completed his service in the Air Force, Shirley and Bill moved to Bill’s hometown of Austin, Texas, where they bought their first home. Not long after, they moved to Denver, Colorado, where their son Michael McCoy was born in 1955 and a second son, Kevin McCoy, was born in 1958.
Unfortunately, her first marriage did not work out and she and Bill divorced in 1960. Shirley met her second husband, Virgil Hampton, in 1961 and they and the two boys moved to Lynwood, Washington, outside of Seattle. While there, Shirley worked for the Edmonds school district and Virgil worked at Boeing. In 1963, they were blessed with a son Steven Hampton.
Shirley, Virgil and the boys moved to Virgil’s hometown of Galax, Virginia in 1968. After a great deal of anguish, Shirley’s second marriage ended in 1970, and she and the boys moved to Austin, Texas. While in Austin, Shirley worked as the head of procurement for fusion research at the University of Texas until she retired at the age of 62. During this time, she had a brief third marriage to Francis Hurt.
Shirley lived in Austin until she broke her hip while on the way to Costa Rica when she was 81. Due to complications from the break and surgeries, Shirley moved to Richardson, Texas to be near her son Michael. Eventually, Shirley moved into Appletree Court, a wonderful assisted living facility in Richardson, where she lived until the time of her death.
One mark of a life well lived is how many friends she made and kept over the years, from school mates at Ottumwa High School, to friends and neighbors in Lynnwood, Austin and Richardson. Shirley treated all the people she met with dignity, respect and kindness. It is an unfortunate fact of life that longevity can be both a blessing and a curse, as many of her friends have been lost in recent years. All of Shirley’s friends have been a blessing to her.
Shirley loved to bowl, play bridge, follow UT sports, especially woman’s basketball, and go dancing at the Broken Spoke in Austin with her closest friend Nelta. But most of all, she loved travelling with friends and family. She often said that the thing she missed most after breaking her hip was not being able to travel, as she still had a number of places on her bucket list.
Shirley died surrounded by her sons Michael and Steven. Along with Michael and Steven, she is survived by her brother Michael Bullard, grandchildren Sarah McCoy, Christopher McCoy, David McCoy, Jessica McCoy, Sydney Hampton, and Chance Hampton, her step-granddaughter Sarah Simmons and step-grandson Colin Royer, her great granddaughter Avery Walters and her niece Shelli Bullard Trowbridge. One of Shirley’s greatest sorrows in life was that her son Kevin did not live to reach his 50th birthday. Shirley will be greatly missed by her family and all who knew her.
A memorial service to celebrate Shirley’s life is scheduled for Saturday, February 24, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. at the Crestview United Methodist Church,1300 Morrow St, Austin, TX. A reception will follow at Trudy’s North Star restaurant at 8820 Burnett Road.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to charitable organizations supporting research seeking cures for dementia and Alzheimer’s or the care of patients with such afflictions, the World Wildlife Federation, or other charities of your choice.
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