Shirley Ann Leclair

Shirley Ann (Perkins) LeClair passed away on September 15, 2026. She was born February 10, 1938, in Kokomo, the daughter of Richard H. and Leota (Harris) Perkins. She was married February 3, 1962, at St. Luke's United Methodist Church to Joseph L. LeClair who passed away March 18, 2002.

Mom was a 1956 graduate of Kokomo High School and attended Ball State University. She was employed at Delco Electronics for four years from 1958 through 1961 and worked for the City of Firsts Credit Union from 1983 until her retirement in 2002. She was a member of, and volunteer at St. Luke's United Methodist Church. She was a Girl Scout Leader and had served on the Tribal Trails Girl Scout Council. She had also served on the Kokomo Symphony Board. Her volunteer activities included Samaritan Caregivers, The American Red Cross, the Howard County Historical Society, Howard Community Hospital, Bon Air School, Indiana Special Olympics and the International Special Olympics. Mom enjoyed traveling, reading, sewing and knitting. During the 20 years our dad served in the Air Force, we lived in England, Texas, Germany, Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana.

Survivors include daughters and sons-in-law Laura and Steve Grubb of Mountain View, California, Karen and Dan Nesbit of St. Michael, Minnesota, Susan and Nate Nastase of Kailua, Hawaii, and 'adopted' daughters Jayne (Atkisson) Gryga of Indianapolis, Indiana and Charlotte (Strange) Mayer of West Chester, Ohio. In addition, mom had seven grandchildren whom she loved deeply: Adam Grubb, David Grubb, Abigail (Jewison) Nesbit, Ethan Nesbit, Grace Nastase, Alex Nastase, and Fletcher Nesbit. Shirley had one sister, Katherine (Perkins) Pfettscher of Kokomo and a brother, Tom Perkins of Hickory, North Carolina.

Shirley also had numerous brothers- and sisters-in-law, as well as nieces and nephews: Paul, Jeanne, Paul, Kurt, Brett, Richard, Betsye, Stacy, and T. She also had several great-nieces and great-nephews. Shirley leaves behind her sweetheart Bill Braden of Bringhurst, Indiana.

She was preceded in death by her parents and our dad, as well as brother-in-law Paul Pfettscher, sister-in-law June Perkins, and nieces Jill Jeffries and Heidi Kunze.

A celebration of mom's life will be held at a later date.

Shirley LeClair loved and was loved by many people over the course of her 88 years, and it should be noted that her favorite daughter wrote her obituary ❤.