Memorial services for Shirley Ann Maxwell, 84, of Vandalia will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday Nov. 12, 2022, at the First Christian Church of Vandalia with Pastor Jamie Franke officiating. Visitation will be held at 1 p.m. until the time of the service at the church. Burial will held immediately afterwards at The Vandalia Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Bienhoff Funeral Home.
Shirley died at 9:57 p.m., Friday, Oct. 14, 2022, at St. Luke’s North Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., after a brief illness. She was born Feb. 8, 1938, in Vandalia, the daughter of Cecil and Bernadine Hall Cragen. Shirley was united in marriage to Dean Maxwell on Dec. 1, 1957, and he died earlier on March 26, 2020.
Survivors include two daughters, Jodey (Dave) Swee of Charleston, S.C., Jan (Mike) Dempsey of Kansas City. Three grandchildren, Ali (Juan) Mejia of Chesapeake Beach, Md., Andi Swee of Washington, D.C. and Josh (Ashton) Dempsey of Kansas City, two great grandchildren, Dax and Channing Dempsey of Kansas City, one sister, Beverly (Eddie) Palmer of New London and one brother, Ronnie Cragen, of Perry.
Her parents, her husband, one sister, Linda Laird, one sister-in-law, Margene Maxwell Reeves, and three nephews, Rodney Palmer, Kyle Laird and Chad Laird, all died earlier.
Shirley was a member of the First Christian Church in Vandalia and retired in 2001 as the bookkeeper for MFA Inc. in Vandalia. She loved her “chair classes” and activities at the YMCA, her long-time friends and projects at LaFemme Arts Club Jr., working in her yard and finding any reason to be outside. Most of all, Shirley loved spending time with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Eastern Missouri Family YMCA or the First Christian Church in Vandalia in care of Bienhoff Funeral Home, P.O. Box 54 Vandalia, MO 63382.
Online condolences may be made at www.bienhofffuneralhome.com.