Shirley Ina Agnew, age 93, of Indianapolis, Indiana, passed to her long-awaited home in Heaven on Tuesday, December 1, 2020. Shirley was born March 1, 1927, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to the late Ina Pearl Kinslow DeHaven and Thedford Smotherman. She is also preceded in death by her devoted husband Donald Carl Agnew; daughters Donna Agnew Marsh and Linda Susan Agnew; daughter-in-law Debbie Waterstone Agnew; and stepfather James I. DeHaven.
Shirley’s focus in this life was JOY – “Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself third.” She accepted Christ in her youth and lived a life of kindness, generosity, and service to others. The prayer she whispered on a daily basis was “Lord, show me your way.” Her farewell greeting to friends as well as acquaintances was a sincerely spoken “God bless you.” In her later years, her most commonly uttered reflection was “My family means so much to me.”
Shirley graduated from Washington High School where she met her sweetheart Don, and they were married for almost 66 years. She loved wandering Indiana with Don; accompanying him on any golf course, especially Old Oakland; having lunch with him in small towns; maintaining her flower gardens; walking daily in her neighborhood; and enjoying vacations, cookouts, and other family celebrations with her immediate and extended family.
Shirley and Don were members of Northside Baptist Church for nearly fifty years where she loved singing, worshiping, and teaching Sunday School. Shirley enjoyed a rewarding career in banking at Union Federal Savings and Loan, mostly because of her fellow employees and the customers she served in the Broad Ripple area. In addition to being an accomplished seamstress, some of her other interests and talents were writing poetry, painting, decorating, singing, and entertaining family and friends.
Shirley is deeply loved and admired and is cherished and missed by her son Douglas Guy Agnew; daughter Carla Jean Shadiow and her husband Rick; grandchildren Matthew Walkup and his wife Stephanie, Brian Shadiow and his wife Michelle, and Scott Shadiow and his wife Kaitlyn; great-grandchildren Tyler Walkup, Nicolas Walkup, Alaena Shadiow, Bowen Shadiow, and Sloane Shadiow; sister Eva Marie DeHaven Egerton, and many loving nieces, nephews, and friends.
There will be a public celebration of her life at Northside Baptist Church in the coming year when friends and family can gather freely. Shirley loved flowers but would prefer that any contributions in her memory be made to Northside Baptist Church Covenant Food Pantry or Debbie Waterstone Wildlife Foundation.
Happy memories and expressions of love and encouragement for the Agnew/Shadiow family may be shared at www.feeneyhornakkeystone.com.
