Shirley R. Brown, 95, lifelong resident of Traverse City, died November 13, 2021 at Munson Medical Center.

Shirley was born on Tuesday, August 3, 1926 in a farm house on Newman Road in Leelanau County to the late Clarence and Frances (Ball) Lewis. She was one of seven children.

She grew up during the Great Depression and World War II and because of that she realized that the best things in life are free.

In her younger years she loved being outside hunting, fishing and camping. She also had a lot of fun bowling. She graduated from Traverse City High School in 1945.

Her first job was working for Parts Manufacturing in Traverse City making airplane parts for the war effort. She then went on to work at Burwoods, SS Kresge and Kmart. She retired in 1988 and looking back she always shared that her fondest memories were at Kresge.

In later years she enjoyed traveling. She went on many wonderful trips and some of her favorites were to Alaska, Ft. Lauderdale, Marco Island and Mt. Rushmore.

For Shirley, family was her everything. She will be remembered for working hard her whole life and for loving to have fun!

She will be greatly missed by her children Ronald (Vivian) Brown of Hudson, FL, Patricia (Jerad) Sprague, Rebecca Wagner, Roger (Tina) Brown of Traverse City and Linda Brown of Mayfield; grandchildren Amy (Jason) Auclair of Grawn, Jamey Brown, Jessica Alpers of Traverse City, Roger (Megan) Brown of North Pole, Alaska, Ryan (Talia) Brown of Freeland, Rita (David) Jones, Caleb (Ruth) Brown and Corey Brown of Traverse City, Martin (Tracy) Sprague of Fife Lake and Heather Troyer of Jenison; and great grandchildren Jensen, Jake, Reeghan, Maicyn, Jasmine, Emily, Alyson, Alan, Reese, Violet and Braxton.

Shirley was preceded in death by her parents, siblings Gordon Lewis, Norma Deibel, Marian Wheeler, Merlin (Stub) Lewis, Verna Hamilton and Joyce Galla; and great grandson Shjon Brown.

The family would like to thank the Birch Wing at the Grand Traverse Pavilions for their love and wonderful care.

Memorial contributions may be directed to the Traverse City Lions Club to assist those with hearing impairments.

The memorial service will be held on Friday, November 19, 2021 at 11:00 am at the Reynolds Jonkhoff Funeral Home with visitation beginning one hour prior. Interment will follow at Grand Traverse Memorial Gardens. The service will also be available to watch at www.rjfh.tv