Shirley Joan Walters

Shirley J. Walters passed away at Presbyterian Manor, Lawrence, Kansas on Monday, March 25, 2024. Cremation is planned.

A celebration of life will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 12, 2024 at the First United Methodist Church on Vermont Street in Lawrence. (Please allow time for street parking). A light reception will follow the service at the church.

Ms. Walters was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, the daughter of Fred and Blanche Kieler. She graduated from Hutchinson High School. Ms. Walters received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and special education from the University of Kansas and a Master’s degree from Southwest Missouri State University.

She worked as a speech-language pathologist in the Salina and Lawrence school districts and as a mental health technician at St. John’s Regional Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. Ms. Walters was a member of the First United Methodist Church and United Methodist Women.

She married Ray G. Walters in 1963 and, as a U.S. Air Force wife, lived in several states, as well as Guam. They divorced in 1981. (Daughter, Audrey, here. Mom wrote the basics of her obituary in 2010 before a planned heart procedure. As was typical of my salt of the earth Midwestern mom, she wrote a simple and practical obituary.  She left out that she was a warm, friendly, loving, trusting, generous, and forgiving person. She cared for several animals in her life even with her allergy to the cats.

Before her illness, she loved to read mystery fiction and her e-mail address included the word “bookworm”.  She liked plants and she grew lettuce in containers every spring. She was a sociable person. She was a good cook and didn’t have to use recipes for most dishes. She usually made three times as much food as was needed but she was a mom who wanted to take care of her family.)

Ms. Walters was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by son Russell Walters and his daughter Katherine, both of Lawrence, daughter Audrey Walters of Mission, Kansas, brother Harold Kieler of Wichita Kansas, three nephews and their families, and three cousins and their families.  

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church on Vermont Street, the Douglas County Visiting Nurses Association, any of the food pantries in Lawrence, or the Lawrence Humane Society and may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary, 120 W. 13th Street, Lawrence, KS 66044. 

For the livestream of Shirley’s service please click here – http://youtube.com/live/L1pfb5PuFmo?feature=share