Eddie Mae Shirley (1940)

Eddie Mae Shirley was born in Jackson, Mississippi, in April 1918 to mother Eddie and father Charlie Shirley. Both parents worked as laborers on a farm. Eddie Shirley fulfilled her dream of becoming a nurse by enrolling in Piedmont’s Tuberculosis Training Program in September 1938 and she graduated in May 1940. After completing the program, Shirley moved to Detroit, Michigan, and worked at Herman Keifer Hospital until 1968 and married Morris Romans. After her husband died, she moved home to Jackson, Mississippi, where she worked as a nurse at University Hospital until her retirement in 1984. According to her obituary, “Aunt Eddie Mae” was devoted to her many nieces and nephews while also caring for her mother, the beloved “Mama Shirley.” Eddie Mae Shirley Romans died on November 5, 2001 and is buried at Garden Memorial Park