On the evening of Friday, January 29, 2021, Dolores Laverne Lampert Shirley went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As God would have it, Dawn, Dolores’ only daughter and youngest child was by her side.
The last week of Dolores’ life on this earth was full of in person visits from her youngest son Mark, his wife Julie and their 3 sons, Grant, Austin, and Matthew, Dawn, her husband, Greg Lanier, and daughter, Sarah Bohls, Dolores’ youngest granddaughter. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dolores’ other children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren felt blessed to be able to say their goodbyes and blow some kisses to their beloved Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother either in person through her room window and via online video chats.
Dolores lived an extraordinary and exemplary life full of love, laughter, and joy. Dolores had a strong faith in God, was surrounded by family who loved her dearly and had a multitude of friends all of whom will sorely miss her. Despite all the physical and emotional pain, which she endured from Multiple Sclerosis since the early 1980’s, followed by two breaks in her spinal cord in 2009, and June 2017, and a break in her pelvis in June 2017, particularly during the last half of her life, she kept moving forward setting a wonderful example for all to see. Her tenacious spirit, coupled with her faith, allowed her to overcome many of life’s adversities with a peace that surpassed all understanding. Dolores was a difference maker in the lives of all she touched – her life was a life well lived.
On May 5, 1930 (yes, Cinco de Mayo), Dolores Laverne Lampert was born the 8th of 10 children to Emma (Schulte) and Willie Lampert at their family home her father built. She was born into a 3rd generation Texas German farming family in a community aptly named Cottonwood in Falls County, Texas, south of Waco, in the lush & fertile land of the Brazos River Valley of Central Texas. Dolores’ mother, Emma, was the daughter of Mary and Frank Schulte of Greenvine, Texas, who also members of one of 12 German Baptist Churches founded in Texas by German immigrants, and her father, Willie, was the son of Katherine and Bernhard Lampert of Falls County, Texas. Dolores grew up attending Cottonwood Baptist Church, another one of 12 German Baptist Churches founded in Texas, which is still in existence today in Lorena, Texas near Levi, Texas, where the cotton gin was located. Along with her large family, she was baptized at Cottonwood after accepting Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
Dolores was a unique and fun mix of tomboy and femininity whose favorite color was lavender, and she loved to wear pink. She helped her father, alongside her siblings, in the fields working the land of the Lampert family farm picking cotton, gathering corn, and growing a bountiful array of other vegetables. Tending to the livestock, including milking the cows, visiting the chicken coop for fresh eggs, and slopping the hogs, in the early morning hours before heading off to school instilled a strong work ethic in Dolores. She also loved playing sports and games with her four older brothers and visiting with her sisters while cooking. Her favorite childhood memories consisted of getting a scooter for Christmas at the age of 12 and playing Andy Over with her siblings.
In 1946, Dolores graduated as Salutatorian from Lorena High School at the age of 16. She was offered a full scholarship to Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, but declined because at the time it was an all-female school, and she was ready to play the field beyond the fields. After the summer of 1946, Dolores left the farm for the big city of Waco to attend Baylor University. In 1949, just after she turned 19, Dolores graduated from Baylor’s Business School; she was one of the first women to do so. After graduating from Baylor, she headed south to Temple where she was employed by Scott & White Medical Center, fulfilling her earliest ambition of employment. She worked in Temple until 1951.
In November of 1950, Dolores traveled to San Angelo to spend the weekend with one of her sisters, Katie Hudler, and her husband, Stanley. There, over a duck dinner, she met the love of her life, John Charles Shirley. John and Stanley were best friends stationed together at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo. Raised in Kentucky before joining the US Navy Armed Guard, John was an outdoorsman in search of a wife who could cook wild game. Stanley had the perfect wife in mind for John, one of his wife’s sisters, Dolores.
Only five months later, on April 28, 1951, Dolores and John Shirley married in Rosebud, Texas, west of Temple, at home of her eldest sister, Mable, and her husband, Herbert Ekrut. From there, it was a whirlwind of travel and relocations due to John’s military service. Dolores enjoyed being John’s Air Force NCO wife and was an elementary school teacher during her years as a military wife. John was sent overseas to Japan, Germany and Iceland as well as stationed in Waco, Colorado, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Maine. From 1952 to 1962, Dolores blessed John with four children born in different places: Gregory Charles Shirley (Waco, TX), John Edward Shirley (Alexandria, LA), William Mark Shirley (Waco, TX) and Dawn Marie Shirley Lanier (Goldsboro, NC).
In 1966, John retired from military service and moved his family back to the farm outside of Waco for a few months before making the decision to move to Austin to begin civilian life in Northeast Austin. The year before in 1965, a new high school opened: John H. Reagan, the home of the “Not Without Honor” fighting Reagan Raiders! Just down the street from Reagan was Windsor Park Baptist Church aka WPBC, which became the Church home for the Shirley family through the 1980s. There, Dolores and John made lifelong friends during those decades who are very dear to the entire Shirley family to this day. Dolores and John were very involved at WPBC where Dolores taught Sunday School, Training Union on Sunday nights and WMU on Wednesday nights. Their children were also involved in children & youth activities during the week and on the weekends at Church, in addition to singing in the different aged choirs, going on mission trips, and assisting in constructing sister Churches. All have fond memories of their childhood and teenage years growing to love Jesus at WPBC along with all the others at WPBC.
From 1966 to 1999, Dolores and John lived in Northeast Austin, mostly on Berkman Drive, in one of the only homes on Berkman. With Dolores was back in Texas for good, she wanted to attend Baylor football games, so John purchased season tickets every year enabling Dolores and their children to go and support her Baylor Bears during the “I Believe” Grant Teaff Days and beyond. Dolores was always decked out in green and gold for each game and proudly sang, “That Good Old Baylor Line” with her most beautiful voice with her hand shaped into a bear claw while looking forward to singing “When the Saints Go Marching In” at some point during the game. Everyone in Dolores’ family, except for her husband John and youngest son Mark, followed in Dolores’ footsteps obtaining degrees from Baylor University along with one of her 10 grandchildren, Chandler Shirley, who earned her undergraduate and law degree from Baylor - Sic ‘em Bears!
During the 1960s and 1970s, other than being involved at WPBC, Dolores also enjoyed attending Reagan Raider football games decked out in full Columbia blue and white garb during the Austin Reagan football dynasty days. Dolores and John enjoyed watching football and supported the neighborhood team by traveling to various places throughout Texas during the many cold playoff games and multiple state championship games, which Reagan won in 1967, 1968 and 1970. After this era, Dolores and John enjoyed attending Reagan’s spin off LBJ High School football games. Dolores & John attended every single football game watching in the stands while Dawn was in high school performing during the halftime shows on the drill team, and as the Captain of the LBJ First Lady’s Drill Team during Dawn’s Senior year.
Outside the home, Dolores’ first full time job in Austin was working for Dr. Samuel P. Todaro, a well-known and longtime family physician. Upon Dr. Todaro’s retirement from practice, she was asked by Gordon Johnson, one of John’s fellow WPBC Deacons and former neighbor, to be his Office Manager at the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas. She loved her job and working for Gordon until she retired in 1991. After she retired, Dolores enjoyed caring for her grandchildren, and traveling. Dolores also enjoyed coordinating the annual US Navy Armed Guard Reunions with John. During those years, their travel included a trip to Pearl Harbor in 1991 for the commemorative 50th Anniversary of the attack by Japan. In February 2009, Dolores & John attended their last Reunion in Fredericksburg, Texas, home of the National Museum of the Pacific War - Home of Admiral Nimitz Museum. A very fitting location for a group of American Heroes to congregate and honor of all Pacific War Heroes, while showing all attendees their Texas hospitality and pride. Dolores’ youngest son Mark and his wife Julie were blessed to attend John & Dolores’ last Armed Guard Reunion with them, one of the highlights of all their lives.
In 1999, Dolores and John moved to the Vista Oaks community off 1431 in Round Rock and transferred their Letter of Church Membership from Hyde Park Baptist Church (which they joined in the late 80s after WPBC) to New Hope First Baptist Church in Cedar Park, Texas. There, they developed many WPBC-type relationships in their Senior Adult Sunday School Class. When John’s health began failing in 2007-2008, their Vista Oaks neighbor, Brook Hunt, cared for Dolores and John like a son attending to their lawn, garden and handy man needs at their home in Round Rock.
She also loved playing dominos with friends and family, especially 42 and 84, on a weekly basis at different WPBC couples’ homes for many years. The domino parties were always competitive and full of laughter from the joy of true friendships. After moving to Round Rock, Dolores & John also had an “Old Friends Supper Club” of mostly old WPBC friends meeting once a month in each other’s homes to enjoy a meal and play games together. Every gathering had a theme. Dolores always enjoyed shopping and gathering items for their theme when she hosted with John at their home. Dolores loved spending time with family and friends whether it be Church members, neighbors or family reunions, where she could be seen pitching a softball and playing dominos loudly with the rest of the group. Dolores was a great cook and baker never showing up to any gathering empty handed. Everyone enjoyed whatever she chose to bring because they knew it would always be very delicious. Dolores also enjoyed singing old hymns with her beautiful voice, while playing the piano on occasion.
Additionally, Dolores liked to work crossword puzzles and watch game shows, particularly Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, which kept her mind sharp until her final days. Dolores was very smart, competitive and had an infectious laugh as well as a dry sense of humor. She was a strong lady with a soft heart who touched so many with her straight talk and wisdom. All of her children and grandchildren benefitted from her wisdom in their times of need also.
In September 2017, after Dolores’ most recent decline in health at the time, Dolores and John were moved to Houston, Texas in the Cypress Area of Northwest Houston to be near their youngest son, Mark, his wife Julie, so they could attend to their needs. Also, the move enabled Dolores and John to be closer to both of their Houston sons, her Houston Area grandchildren, and great grandchildren during their final years after spending 50 years in the Austin Area near Dawn and her three children. In the Cypress Area, Dolores was also closer to her only remaining sibling, her sister, Hazel May Gibson.
Her greatest joy was seeing her grandchildren and great grandchildren, who she prayed for every day and who made her face light up and her spirit come alive with youthful exuberance, a total change in her countenance like nothing else. But above all, Dolores was an awesome example of a Godly wife. She stayed by, loved, respected, and honored her husband every day of their married lives. Her devotion was even more apparent in 2008, when John started showing signs Dementia. They were blessed to have each other and stayed by each other’s side until the very end.
Since 2017, Dolores and John were residents of 4 different Assisting Living Homes (1 in Austin, 3 in Houston) and in and out of skilled nursing facilities and hospitals during this time. Regardless of their often and painful circumstances, Dolores and John continued to light up the lives of all who met them. They were the most loved and inspirational couple in all their communities. Dolores and John were often the only couple, and certainly a unique couple, celebrating their 67th, 68th and 69th wedding anniversaries while in assisted living. The Shirley family appreciates the love and care shown by the many nurses, doctors and caregivers during the last years of her life. We would like to express special appreciation to one of Dolores’ nieces, Kerry Lampert Arp, RN, who provided invaluable counsel regarding the care of Dolores and John during their final years.
Dolores is preceded in death by her parents, Emma and Willie Lampert, four brothers, Albert “Red” Earl Lampert, Benny Frank Lampert, Marvin William Lampert, Harry David Lampert, and four sisters, Doris Loise Lampert (passed as an infant in 1928; Dolores’ birth followed Doris’ birth), Mable Ellen Ekrut, Katherine “Katie” Marie Hudler and Irma Fay Lynn.
Dolores is survived by her husband of almost 70 years, John Charles Shirley, along with her only remaining sibling, her sister Hazel May Gibson of Houston, Texas. She is also survived by her four children: Gregory Charles Shirley and wife Carol of Albuquerque, New Mexico, John Edward Shirley and wife Ann of Houston, Texas, William Mark Shirley and wife Julie of Cypress, and Dawn Marie Shirley Lanier and husband Greg Lanier of Austin, Texas. Dolores is survived by 10 adored grandchildren: Justin Scott Shirley, Allison Leigh Shirley Johnson, William Grant Shirley, Austin Miller Shirley, Matthew Charles Shirley, Blake Cochran Bohls, Chandler Marie Shirley, John Cade Shirley, Mason Lampert Bohls and Sarah Margaret Bohls; and 8 adored and adorable great-grandchildren (so far): Maria Caroline Johnson, William Gregory Johnson, Luke Daniel Johnson, Owen Miller Shirley, William Emerson Shirley, Graham Austin Shirley, Virginia Mae Shirley and Grayson Charles Shirley. All of whom will miss her big smiles, songs, hugs, kisses, and wisdom.
A joyful Celebration of Life will be held later in 2021, at New Hope First Baptist Church in Cedar Park, Texas, when family & friends can safely gather - without the current threat and fear of the COVID-19 virus - to honor Dolores who fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith focused on the prize of the crown of righteousness, which Jesus Christ has most assuredly awarded to her upon her homecoming in Heaven. Well done good and faithful servant.
On Monday, March 22, 2021, at 1:30 PM, a brief Graveside Service will be held at Houston National Cemetery located at 10567 Veterans Memorial Drive, 77038, where Dolores will be laid to rest. When the Lord calls her husband of almost 70 years, John Charles Shirley, Retired MSGT USAF, he will join Dolores. John will be honored and remembered upon his internment for his 21 years of distinguished service to our great country in the United States Navy Armed Guard (1942 to 1945) and United States Air Force (1948 to 1966), with Full Military Honors the Day of his interment and remembrance that day and every day thereafter, along with many other American Heroes.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made to The National Multiple Sclerosis Society https://www.nationalmssociety.org/Donate or New Hope First Baptist Church in Cedar Park, Texas by mail or online at https://www.discovernewhope.com/give/#give-online
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18