Shirley Jean Grizzaffi

Shirley Jean Chubb Grizzaffi passed away Sunday, March 8, 2026, after a hard-fought battle against AML Leukemia. She was 79 years old.

Shirley was born June 30th, 1946, in Charleston, South Carolina to her parents Marion Chubb and Elsie Barr. After her parents divorced, Elsie married Bob Warren who was a wonderfully supportive stepfather to Shirley and her sister, Marilyn. South Carolina is where Shirley picked up her charming Southern accent, her love of going to Myrtle Beach, shag dancing, boiled peanuts and her lethal delivery of the term ‘bless her heart’.

After high school, she moved to Dallas, Texas where she met Mike Grizzaffi. They married in 1968 and had a daughter, Amy Lynn. The family then moved to Austin where Mike and Shirley welcomed a baby boy, Phillip Anthony. After 8 years in Austin, the family moved back to the Dallas Metroplex where Shirley spent the rest of her life.

Shirley dedicated her life to being a devoted mother and serial volunteer. Whether it was working at the gift shop at the nursing home, serving as team mom or manning a bake sale for the various high school booster clubs, Shirley could be counted on to show up and greet everyone with a big smile and bigger southern drawl. She was also a committed social butterfly who was very loyal to her coffee klatch and other special groups of friends. One huge part of the soundtrack of her life was the sound of cards shuffling as she loved to play triple deck with friends and family. Shirley enthusiastically played the role of unofficial social secretary of her family and friends, always ready and able to report what was going on in people’s lives and coordinate help for anyone in need. She was the perfect embodiment of “goodness, did I tell you,” and “there, there.” She woke up and went to bed thinking of others.

As her kids’ lives got busier, Shirley worked part time at the church’s Mother’s Day Out program, where she became known as ‘Miss Shirley’ and scooped up another group of lifelong friends. Once her kids moved out of the house, Shirley took a job at their alma mater, Newman Smith High School, where she lovingly became known as “Ms. G.” She frequently found herself proudly telling stories to friends about the funny escapades at her new job and the countless rewarding moments she shared with the students. Ever the champion of her employer, she frequently bragged about the programs the school offered and showed up to support as many of them as she could.

The school district also hired her to sell tickets at sporting events, a questionable decision given the long line that would form as she would strike up a genuine conversation with every person attending the game. The visiting team must have been so perplexed by the southern grandma working the door and creating a bottleneck. Even while undergoing chemo, she would try to work these shifts and fret when she missed one. This second chapter of her life created some of her most memorable moments and life-changing relationships.

Another very rewarding part of her life was her strong faith. Shirley was raised in the Baptist church but after watching her children get baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church, she decided to convert and has been dutiful about going to mass ever since. The visits from local priests in her last months of life left her feeling grateful, loved and fully at peace.

It could be argued that her greatest joy came from being a grandmother. Amy’s two children, Kendall and Rhett, meant the whole world to her. “Gigi” attended every swim meet, dance recital and lacrosse game she could along with every Thanksgiving and Christmas morning. She snuck in more trips with her grandkids and their friends to McDonalds than we could ever count, much to the chagrin of their parents. She worked hard to save enough money to take Kendall and Rhett to Hawaii, just the three of them, a place she had never been to. It was an unforgettable trip.

Shirley’s currency was Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies and Hallmark cards. If you ever showed up at her house, you most likely were given a warm cookie. She never missed an anniversary or a birthday, with many suspecting she was single handedly keeping Hallmark in business. Young people can tell you about how every year on their birthday they would receive a card and crisp one-dollar bills, the number corresponding with their age. Bank tellers will surely miss her visits to gather those brand new bills.

Shirley is survived by her children, Phillip, Amy and her son-in-law Scott Hollyfield, her grandkids Kendall and Rhett, and a group of friends she loved like family. A memorial service will be held on March 23rd at 10:30am at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church, 2800 Valwood Pkwy, Farmers Branch, TX followed by a short service at a columbarium and then a lunch reception. Instead of flowers, she would love for you to give the gift of supporting education. The Shirley Grizzaffi Memorial Fund will provide financial backing to the school district she loved dearly. Online donations can be made here: https://www.cfbisd.edu/community/education-foundation/give

Checks: Written to the CFBISD Educational Foundation, CFBISD Administration Building, 1445 N. Perry Rd., Carrollton, TX 75006, Attn: Ed Foundation

To honor her memory, please consider sending someone a card, in the actual mail with a stamp, to spread her gift of loving people and making them feel special. Because she sure was special and will be remembered always and forever for her kindness. With a healthy side of legendary southern sass.