Shirley Ann Becking, was born on July 24, 1936, along the rural Northwest Dunklin-Stoddard County line road.  She was the second child of Everett Ira Schrader and Thelma Louise Chatman.  Shirley worked on her father’s farm and went to school during her early years.  She attended Bernie High School.  During the Second World War and while the Malden Air Base was operational, Shirley worked at the Base Canteen with her mother and sister. 

On January 28, 1959, Shirley was joined in matrimony with George Harvey Becking at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Dexter, Missouri.  She worked as a waitress in support of her husband’s schooling as he attended engineering school in Rolla, Missouri.  On July 25, 1961, their first child, Cassandra Kay was born in Rolla.  After completing school, the family moved to Kokomo, Indiana where their only son Bruce Edward was born on October 12, 1964.

In September of 1965, her family moved to East Detroit, Michigan where the family purchased her uncle’s home.  In January 1971, the family moved to Clinton Township, Michigan because Shirley wanted more space for her children; this was to become the Becking family home for the next 50 years.  Shirley was a homemaker and much, much more as she excelled at this calling.  Her only outside work during these years was keeping school teachers, preschool children so that she would be at home when her children were there and during their summer vacations.  Shirley loved children and little animals and she was always in big demand for her children and their friends.  Due to parental problems, she was also involved with the early years of her grandchildren.  Occasionally, she would be called upon to help out with a crisis situation on the West coast and thus became known as “911 Grandma”.

In September of 1998, Shirley’s husband retired from his professional career.  This afforded both her and her husband the opportunity to develop their family genealogy, which had been unknown beyond the grandparents until then, and provided the opportunity for much travel.  They spent the next 10 plus years learning much about their heritage.

During Shirley’s mid-fifties she was diagnosed with very early dementia.  As the disease progressed, it developed into Alzheimer’s during her late sixties and early seventies.  In February of 2019, it became necessary to enter Shirley into a memory care unit where she remained until a bedsore, that caused a terminal infection, moved her to a specialized nursing facility in Tigard, Oregon. 

Shirley passed away on Wednesday, November 27, 2019 at the age of 83 years.  She was preceded in death by her daughter, Cassandra, her sister and her brother.  She is survived by her husband, George, her son, Bruce, her brother, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. 

Friends may call at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Dexter, Missouri on Thursday, December 5, 2019 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. 

Funeral Mass will then be conducted at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. with Father William Hennecke officiating.  Interment will follow in the Bernie Cemetery.

Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter is in charge of all arrangements.