Memorials
Memorials to my Mom, Dad, and a Friend
Judith Bolling Shirey
A Descendant of Pocahontas
Judith Bolling Shirey, 72, of 224 Main St., Orangeville, passed away Monday morning, Aug. 9, 2004.
She was born Apr. 1, 1932 to Wythe T. Bolling and Elizabeth T. Bolling in Scranton.
A 1955 graduate of Bloomsburg State Teachers College, she taught in New Jersey and Pennsylvania elementary schools.
She was a faithful member of the Orangeville United Church of Christ and taught Sunday School there for many years.
Civic-minded, she was a member of the UCC Women's Guild and Orangeville Civic Club and Library Board; she was always willing to serve.
She is survived by husband John L. Shirey, son Mark T. Shirey, daughter Gretchen J. Shirey, granddaughter Jocelyn, sisters Virginia Winters of Tunkhannock and Barbara Haag of Towanda, and brother Blair Bolling of Camp Hill.
A private memorial will be held at the convenience of the family.
There Goes Judy
When she was a little girl
Her siblings would hear a crash or a glass break in another room and say
"There goes Judy!"
When she was a beautiful coed
Her young husband-to-be, and others no doubt, might see her and say,
"There goes Judy"
When she was a hard-working wife, teacher, mother, and volunteer,
Wherever there was a need she could meet,
There goes Judy
When she dropped a glass, or worse, as an adult
She would still sometimes say, with acceptance of herself,
"There goes Judy!"
When she became a passenger instead of a driver,
Wherever John went,
There goes Judy
When her memory slowed and her body bent,
Many shook their heads sadly and thought
"There goes Judy"
When heaven accepted her, premature in death as she was in birth,
We could look up and find comfort knowing that
There goes Judy
And now, remember that, in me, in Gretchen,
In Dad, in her siblings, and in everyone she ever touched,
There goes Judy.
- Mark T. Shirey, Aug 2004
John Leonard Shirey
A Lover of Knowledge
John L. Shirey, 69, of Orangeville, passed away Thursday evening, October 20, 2005 at home.
He was born March 6, 1936 to John K. and Anna Rhine Shirey.
A 1957 graduate of Bloomsburg State Teachers College, he had been a teacher and surveyor and retired as a longtime water treatment plant operator for the Bloomsburg Municipal Authority.
Known as an interesting person, he loved knowledge, nature and the outdoors, cooking, sports, learning about all subjects, and striving to understand great mysteries and small puzzles.
He served four years in the U.S. Army, including disaster-relief assignments in South America as a helicopter-based medic.
He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Judith Bolling Shirey in 2004, and his father, John K. Shirey.
He is survived by his mother, Anna Rhine Shirey, of Lewistown, brother Samuel R. Shirey of Seneca, SC, son Mark T. Shirey of State College, daughter Gretchen Joy Shirey of Bloomsburg, and granddaughter Jocelyn Joy Shirey.
A private memorial will be held at the convenience of the family.
Jennet Peoples
16 June 1956 - 2 Aug 1998
Jennet was finishing up her Master of Fine Arts degree from Penn State University when she died in 1998. Here's an unusually short sample of Jennet's poetry. She always put a lot of attention into every "line break" (what the first and last word of every line should be). A 1996 Academy of American Poets First Prize Winner:
Leaves
The old man in the wheelchair
leans forward
into the warm sun,
as though he would walk
one last time; and I
lean with him
into the sparrow's sweet
stumbling music,
into the magnolia's shadow
as it lengthens
across the turned
and vibrant leaves
that Maintenance
will come to rake,
rake and burn.
- Jennet Peoples, 1996
Jennet X Peoples
[an acrostic sonnet]
Joining words into lines of life and death,
Esteemed by poets, readers, writers, friends.
Noting moral flaws with mortal breath,
Not bowing down to power's means and ends.
Engaging in the study of a shadow -
The darkness left behind by writer's pens.
Xpressing what we fear and what we know,
Peering through experience's lens.
Enjoying daily discourse with the cats
Or walking with and talking with the birds,
Pleasing mice and men with honest chats,
Loving cows in farms and fairs and herds.
Every word and every creature is her kin,
So lucky are those she chooses to take in.
- Mark T. Shirey, Sep 1995
Jennet Peoples, July 1998, at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts ("the Arts Fest") in State College, PA, a few weeks before she ended her life.
A Memorial To Jennet Peoples
I feel so lucky to have known Jennet Peoples
and so grateful to her for the joy and the challenges
that she brought to the people in this room
(some of whom knew her much longer than I did),
and to many others who could not be here today.
Jennet was a dog, and a cat, and a mouse, and a bird.
Jennet was a poem, and Jennet was a book.
She was tough and funny and fragile,
she was simple and intricate,
and she was beautiful.
Sometimes her mind had too many puzzles,
sometimes her brain had the wrong chemistry,
and her life had too many complexities, sometimes.
Now that she's at peace,
where all questions are answered or un-asked,
I hope she will teach us to love the things that she loved,
to aspire to the things she aspired to,
and to work as hard as she worked.
She's gone forever, but now she'll always be OK.
Smile when you think of her.
We are all better people for having known her.
Thank you, Jennet.
- Mark T. Shirey, 5 Aug 1998