Shirley Jenney Key

Shirley Topham Key died on Thursday, January 7th. She died peacefully at home with her daughter and final caretaker, Marcella Selberg, lying at her side. Shirley went to God listening to the words of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, knowing that her friend, Jesus, was close to her, guiding her home.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 22, 1931 to Ellwood and Frances Topham, Shirley lost her mother at the age of four. Her stepmother led her into the Catholic Church at the age of nine. That gift from her stepmother blessed Shirley for the rest of her life.

Shirley’s happiest moments were her brief service in the army and her role as mother to seven children. All of Shirley’s children remember that her maternal warmth encompassed the entire neighborhood, leading their friends to call her “mom” as well.

Shirley is survived by her children: Jerry Bramlett, Tim Bramlett, Jack Key, Mary Capps, Rose Key, Monica Key and Marcella Selberg. She is also survived by sixteen grandchildren, with one granddaughter preceding her in death. Shirley is the great grandmother to fifteen.

In the words of Origen, a Father of Shirley’s beloved Catholic faith, “The seed of God cannot be extinguished, cannot die out, it glows and sparkles, burning and giving light, and always it moves upward to God.” Shirley is the seed of God whose light will always lead us upward.