Obituary of Shirley Ann Carr

No visitation Shirley Ann Carr Our Mom Shirley Carr (10/30/26- 9/8/06) passed away quite unexpectedly Friday night at St. Peter’s Hospital in Olympia. In the great race of life she was just rounding the corner of age 80. Shirley’s story: In the spring of 1952 Shirley with her husband Bill, and three young kids (Kathleen, Billy, and Doug) traveled through Olympia on a family vacation. Anxious to escape the chaos of Los Angeles, and with the clear vision of the pristine Pacific Northwest still fresh in their minds, they decided to load up the 3 little ones, their possessions and head north later that year. Shirley drove the kids in a ’39 Chrysler Sedan followed by Bill’s ’42 Ford truck up “Old 99” (pre-freeway) northbound through Grand Mound, Tenino and a brief stop for cocoa at the “Old French Café” near Waldrick Rd. The exhaustion of the long drive found them late night at the old Fir Grove Motel near Boulevard Rd. where those rustic little cabins became their refuge for the next three weeks. And THAT is how the decision was made to settle in the small town of Olympia Washington. Shirley and Bill bought a house at 305 North Decatur St. where Bruce was born, later moved to 1205 Bethel St where the twins Deb and Dan were born, and shortly thereafter moved to 1656 Yew Ave. where the family resided for many years. Shirley’s life centered around her kids. She involved herself with PTA, Brownie Troop meetings, and every so often she even made personal appearances at local establishments to defend the honor of one of her 6 kids. She believed in hard work, hand washing, home cooking, and spanking children. Her ability to stretch a pot-roast into 4 days of family meals, bake mouthwatering homemade bread and carefully manage the family budget was enviable. She canned everything from quarts of Bing cherries to homemade root beer (which occasionally shot off in the middle of the night in our house). Shirley caught the travel bug from her son Bill Jr. when on her first trip abroad they weathered a hurricane while driving across S.W. Australia in his VW van. She so loved adventuring that she not only continued traveling the world but subsequently opened, operated and successfully managed her own tour company called SOS (Shirley’s Overseas Sojourns) Tours. Her renowned 21 day Australian Tours are still the centerfold of many travelers’ memory books. In her later years she enjoyed regular travels on the “Discovery Tours” buses out of Centralia. Shirley was energetic (always having some “iron in the fire”), politically astute, passionate for anything she believed in, tough, stubborn, and hard-nosed, but equally loving and supportive to family and friends. Anyone who really knew her would tell you she had a keen, quick sense of humor and LOVED a good laugh! Shirley was born in Muskegon Michigan. Her parents were Margaret and Jack Yock (Dutch ancestry). She was a big sister to Beverly and mother to: Kathleen (Kent), Bill (deceased), Doug (Lacey), Bruce (Olympia), Deb (Kirkland), and Dan (Shelton); and had numerous grandchildren A private Family gathering will be held at a later date. We would love to hear from anyone on Mom’s behalf at www.funeralalternatives.org/obituaries.asp or by mail to: Shirley’s Family, 1910 Evergreen Park Dr. SE, Olympia, WA, 98502.